I let my teaching license expire after years of hard work. I didn't expect to feel so free.

Detailed summary

A chronic illness forced me to leave my teaching career behind. Letting my license expire helped me move on.

I left the classroom a couple of years ago. I told myself it was for good, but my husband made me promise him that I was really done. In return, I asked him not to let me go back if I ever tried to again. Deep down, I can still sense my love of teaching, and since my husband knows me well, these are promises I know we'll both keep. I knew my professional teaching certificate was going to expire this summer, and I went back and forth about whether or not I should go to the trouble of renewing it. In an extreme act of setting boundaries, I decided to let it go — on purpose. I was worried I would regret it, but now I'm glad I let it expire.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Business Insider. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.