Why would you ever leave a good job which you love?

I get this question a lot, ever since my decision to leave UWCEast in February this year. I am sure it had been floating around in my wife's mind too, but she did not ask me because, somewhere in our 12 years of marriage, she has accepted that I am different. At that point, she too had decided to leave her banking job of however many years, in favour of doing something that she loves (and in my opinion, really good at): Pilates.

So why leave then? First and foremost, despite being paid well, I always had the nagging feeling that I wasn't paid equally. Teaching in an international school meant that whether my children could attend the school depended on whether the school would apply on my behalf to the Ministry of Education for them to be exempted from the rule that local kids had to attend local schools. There were also other parts of the full-time contract that did not sit well with me in terms of what was offered to a local teacher versus an expatriate teacher.

So by principle, the push factor was very strong, despite how much I love my job. It was truly a dream job - teaching film to students who were still not yet at the age where they had decided that they wanted to pursue film. Many of my students did not pursue film in University, but all of them looked back on the subject fondly. The above picture was taken with one of my many batches of film kids. Some of the kids spent 6 hours baking that cake which really tasted amazing; six hours for an IB student on a weekend is precious, so I am grateful that they mulled over how to bake a cake.

I felt that another great factor for me was that I turned 40 this year and I really wanted to do something different. UWCSEA was starting to offer its own Diploma next academic year and I had been feverishly preparing the new G9/G10 film program, but I did not feel as if I were the right person to take it for the next 6+ years or so, till the course found its feet. My intention was to move abroad with the family, but starting to job hunt for an IB Film job in February is late and though I had many interviews and one offer, it did not end up working out.

My son asked me sometime in May whether I regret resigning in February and my answer to him was simple: no. I don't because I made a choice that I believed was the best for my family -- I wanted to move overseas so that I could teach in an ecosystem that my children benefited from, so that my son could pursue the Arts, so that my daughter could play football. I don't because I made the choice that gave me the best opportunity to grow while being responsible for my family -- I made sure that I would have enough to pay for my insurance, my family's -- including three dogs and two cats -- food and pay for my kid's enrichment classes -- football for them both. I don't because I am still teaching -- something I know I am good at and absolutely love.

So would you ever leave a good job? Why not? If leaving a good job meant that you found a different kind of fulfilment. I would miss this bunch of students though. I don't think there is ever a good time to leave a job that you love, but this was the right time to leave a job that I love.