The Reality of Working Past Retirement Age
Beyond Burnout, but I Can’t Afford to Retire
Becoming a teacher of students with special needs is my calling. However, due to extenuating circumstances and my life choices, I did not begin my teaching career until later in life.
Now, I am 63 years old and SO TIRED. I am ready to retire but only have eleven years of service credit, so I can’t afford it.
Why am I in this situation? I was a stay-at-home mom raising my three children in the 80’s and 90’s, and my youngest was born with Down Syndrome.
My husband climbed the corporate ladder while I kept the home hearth burning, as they say. It’s unfortunate that the home was such an unsafe place, and I had to take my children and leave that environment.
Domestic Violence and Trauma
Domestic violence and emotional abuse are paralyzing. The gaslighting never stopped. I needed to get divorced, but I married right out of high school and had little work experience and zero college.
I was too terrified to leave. How could I support my children? I was stuck. Finally, after 17 years, I did get a divorce.
It was then that I started my journey through college.
I tiptoed into the workforce by becoming a special education para-educator. It took me 18 years to complete college and become a special education teacher.
By that time, I was 50 years old and already burned out. I have had to take mental health stress disability leave numerous times over these teaching years just to recover from the stress of the job.
Stay-at-Home Mom
I do not regret the 17 years I spent raising my children, but I do regret not getting retirement credit as a stay-at-home parent (I wish that were a thing).
Before you ask, my divorce attorney did not do me any favors. The pittance I got from my ex-husband's retirement was a joke.
Now, as a single woman, I have no consistent retirement. I earned just enough credits for social security in my younger years.
I made less than five years of retirement service credit as a classified employee (even though I worked 9+ years), and I now have earned 10 years as a teacher.
All of that separately is not enough.
At this rate, I will have to keep teaching forever, but I don’t think I have it in me anymore.
I wish I had planned better for my retirement in my younger years rather than assuming my marriage would last and my husbands ’s retirement would carry both of us through our twilight years.
Now, I am learning other skills, such as writing, for both enjoyment and to earn a little extra income.
I aim to teach for another five years while continuing to develop my writing. I pray He gives me the strength and patience I will need to do that.
· Are there any others out there in my situation? How are you coping?
· Do you have any words of wisdom you could share? I would love to hear from you.