Career change?

Welcome to allnurses, Teresa! We have many second-career students and nurses here, so lots of experience to read about. Best wishes to you!

Life is too short, but it's NEVER too late to reach your dreams and pursue happiness.

Why do you want to be a nurse? That is the most important question to ask yourself regarding a career change.
Look to making a change within your teaching career; if you stick with teaching, perhaps you can teach another (easier) age group, rather than high school students.

The reality of nursing is that your first job may be working nights for a year. You will likely work every other weekend and every other Holiday if you work in a hospital. You'll work 12 hour shifts (which typically are 13-14 hours with minimal breaks and sometimes no lunch. You will find that despite your caring for your patients and families, the same isn't returned; people who are sick are not always on their best behavior.

You're also going to go from "experienced" teacher to "newbie" nurse... it's a huge mindset change.

Think long and hard about this change.

I taught school for ten years and decided that that was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my career. However, I am single with no children. It was pretty easy for me to make that decision, with the exception of the major financial burden of quitting my job at the end of last school year and the uncertainty of unemployment (not from the government, but actually not having a job and income) until the end of nursing school. The big difference between nursing and teaching will be that, besides the emotional factor, you will work your shift and go home. As a teacher, your day does not end at the "teacher bell." You have faculty meetings that run past that time at least once a week, you take students on school-sponsored trips or go to required professional development conferences on your own time, you grade papers and call/e-mail parents every night, and don't forget the parent night events that you are required to go to. My "vacations" were often spent on school activities that were more often than not not reimbursed by the district.