New Job = New Start?

After all the stress of worrying that things wouldn't work out I've finally managed to get a job I want in a place we want to be that pays significantly better than my current wage. It is a good job. Really, it is the job for which I've put up with all the shit of this year because in many ways it has been the way my CV looks now that got me the interview in the first place. While this new school is slightly posher than my current one, and the hours I'm required there are slightly longer, I am getting paid more and we will be living very close to it and, most importantly, I'm just a teacher there - no extra responsibilities or demands - the demands of teaching are enough for me. The plan then, is to stay there for two or three years full-time, save every single penny I can and then do something else. I have to promise that to myself because while I have taken this job and am happy about it, it isn't really, honestly what I want to do. I still need to find that thing.

There was a show on SBS that I stumbled upon the other night. I think it was called 'Roadtrip' but that seems a bad name for it. Three early-mid 20s travelled around together in a green motorhome and conducted interviews with successful people about career and life balance, happiness, regrets, family and associated things. They are looking for help in deciding the direction of their lives - what do they believe is success? how much should they do what they want over what they should? should lifestyle determine work or work determine lifestyle? These are questions I'm grappling with and while it was interesting to watch, it was also slightly scary that I've been asking this questions now for over ten years, with no real answers. And this new change....I wonder if it will provide any help with these things?

One guy interviewed (I got momentarily excited because his name is Tim Winton, but turns out it isn't the Tim Winton I'd want to hear from!) had a very interesting phrase he used to describe the process or moment of changing life - 'reaching escape velocity'. I like this phrase - it embodies in it the kind of energy and faith needed to get away from the things society thinks we should do, like work full time to be able to afford to buy the stuff that keeps the economy going. He also made the comment that the context of a profession does all it can to keep you there and pull you back in if you do try to break away. This is exactly how it feels - no one around you believes there is any other way of living life besides working full time and working yourself to death to move up and be successful etc, etc. It is very difficult to believe anything different when no one else does and there is no one to talk this stuff through with who doesn't have an agenda.

But this is all for later. For now, the upshot is that I have a job that allows us to move more easily between here and there. Once there, I can continue to explore these things.