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Hey friends, welcome back to the CEO Teacher Podcast. We have done a little bit of reinventing ourselves since we last hung out. This is our second show back after taking about a six week long break. And we are coming back bigger and better than ever, but with a newfound excitement and love for life. I'm trying my best to just be me and not necessarily be podcast Casey or this expert that just teaches teachers how to create an online business. Because in the midst of all that, I kind of lost myself. And today's podcast episode is super real and super raw about what my life has looked like behind the scenes for the last two years. If you're following me on Instagram at Casey Morris, I'm sharing all of this in a real, natural way. Not with this podcast voice that you hear. What if I just stop doing the podcast voice? You know, I don't, I don't like it anymore. It's not me, it's not who I am. But I just, I don't know, I just feel like this is a time where I am called to just be who God created me to be and follow the path that he's put me on. On. And I am finally in a new season. And I think that the words that I'm going to share today, I hope that what I'm going to share today can help somebody to know that whatever season you're going through, especially if it's a hard season, that it's just that it'll just be something that's temporary and it won't last forever. I went through the hardest season of my life in the last two years. And in today's show, I'm going to get raw and real and emotional and talk about it. And I'm also going to talk about what I did to get better. Because in a way, I was sick, I was unwell, I was not myself. I. I lived, I lived the life behind the eyes that people see. But. But I wasn't truly living and I, I don't want that. For anybody listening to today's show, I want you to remember who you are. And maybe something I shared today can help you. So stick around. You don't wanna miss it. Welcome to the CEO Teacher, where educators turn what they already know and love into a successful and sustainable online business with actionable strategies, simple business tips, and mindset shifts. It's a weekly lesson plan for teacher business owners, whether you're teaching full time in the classroom or rocking the small business from home life. I'm your host, Kasey Morris, a former Georgia English teacher, mom at a four turned seven figure online teacher, business owner and founder of the CEO teacher movement. Three teaching degrees got me a few extra bucks each year. But what I will show you will will help you make that every single month. If you have a heart for education and a passion to use your experience to help more teachers and families, you belong here. Fresh starts aren't just for New Year's resolutions. They can happen on a random Wednesday in September when you finally say, you know, this isn't the life that I want to settle for as a teacher. That's why I created a brand new book. It's called 10 Steps to Reinventing life as a teacher and how to make more income than you ever dreamed possible. It's a hard pill to swallow, but I realized the woman standing in that Pinterest perfect classroom, she wasn't the same little girl who used to line up her Cabbage patch dolls and dream of teaching. Somewhere along the way, the spark dimmed and I had to find a new way forward. So this guide is the exact roadmap and kind of like a little bit of a journal so that I wanted to share with you something that I wish I would have had all those years ago. It's 10 steps to help you take back control of your life. How to reinvent your life not only as a human, but also as a teacher. And how to create the freedom and flexibility that you've been craving. You can grab it for free right now@casey morris.com now because your reinvention, it doesn't have to wait. It can start the moment that you say yes. That's Kasey morris.com now. K A Y S E M O r r I s.com now so today's show is all about teaching in a new season. Deep breaths. Here we go. Some nights were just quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that makes your chest ache. And when my divorce was finalized, honestly, I thought I'd feel this relief. And maybe I thought, like I would have this new sense of freedom or excitement about life. But what I didn't expect was how lonely I would feel walking through the front door of my house. The house that used to be a home suddenly felt like just walls, memories, floors, silence. And I read back through my journal during those days. Honestly, it was so depressing going back and reading and thinking about dinner tables and just all of the memories that the house held that I wasn't prepared for. I had my kids almost all of the time. Four beautiful blessings that filled my days with laughter and chaos. And responsibility. But four and a half days a month, they went to their dads. And my house was screaming at me. It was. It was so empty. And even when they were there, the grief and the guilt of what I had to do hung so heavy in the air. And this is what they don't tell you about divorce or walking into any new season of life that you didn't necessarily plan for. I wasn't mourning the loss of my marriage. I was mourning the loss of the life that I thought I was supposed to have. The dream that I thought that God had created for me. The dream that I was living. So while I was in mourning and extreme guilt and overwhelming grief, I did what any ambitious entrepreneur or teacher would do. And I just stayed really busy. Too busy. I went to the gym, pickup lines, dinners out, drinks, anything to avoid the truth. I didn't like being with myself. I didn't like the person that I had to become. And teaching, like my work? Forget it. Teaching others, whether it was in the classroom years ago or now, what I do as an online business coach, Guys, in that season, it felt so impossible. I was running from my own self. I could not look at myself in the mirror and see someone I was proud of. How in the world am I supposed to guide somebody else when I couldn't even face my own reflection? Worst of all, I completely let my faith slip. What I had always credited myself to be my firm foundation. I carried. So much shame from my decision. It felt like a backpack full of these heavy, heavy bricks. The girl who I had once believed I was one girl who would be married one time and completely believe that with all of her heart, was now divorced. And the shame of that, it nearly swallowed me whole. But piece by piece, God started stitching me back together. I would love to tell you that it was this one big miracle moment, but there hasn't been one. It's been teeny, tiny, nearly invisible things. I remember a couple of months ago, which was a year and a half after my divorce, I started hearing my kids laugh again. And I realized that I wasn't just watching them, I was feeling it. I could feel their joy. And I had allowed the day to day routines take over. Part of me that made me so happy, which was to feel the joy for my children. I started asking God for help. Instead of just pretending that he was helping and I was muscling through it, I really started asking God. I remember I drove to a local Bible store here in town called Blue Sage and I just showed up. And I remember being Like, I have no idea why I'm here, but I've always wanted to come in here. Maybe something will just stick out to me. And I found this Bible that was green and it had gold cursive writing on it. And it just stuck out to me. And I thought, that looks really expensive. I'm probably not going to buy it. And it was like 20 something dollars and. And I thought, man, I haven't been in the Word in a really long time. And so I grabbed it and then I got some cute markers and crayons and then I got these little tabs. And honestly, it took me months to put all of these tabs on my Bible. But like, once I did, it was like I completed this beautiful project. Kind of like God was working on me. I think he knew in that moment I wasn't ready. And I had carry a lot of guilt about that as well, that I waited so long to get back into his Word. But I just. I couldn't do it yet. I. My brain wasn't there. I wasn't ready to learn or teach in this new season. And so little by little, as I made this project of my Bible, I started just having this yearning of looking at it and going, I need it, have to have it. It was just like food, it was just like water. It was something that I just had to have. And I started trying my best to break down the walls of my heart. I'm not there yet. I'm still working on it. But allowing love to show up in ways that I thought were gone. Forever and slowly, the house didn't just feel like walls anymore. I am starting to feel alive again. I am wanting to make my house a home again. A new home, a fresh home. One like I've never seen before, that's full of love and light and happiness and joy that leaves behind guilt and resentment and failure. And all these, the feelings that I have been feeling. Yeah. It's nearly two years later, I can finally say this. I am in a new season. A season where I'm not hiding, I'm not running, I'm not drowning in shame. A season where I can teach again. Not from perfection, but from renewal. That's why I really wanted to take six weeks off of the show and just kind of work on me. Go to the state park, write in my journal, Just get really, really quiet. So why am I sharing all this? Well, maybe you're standing on the edge of your own new season. It doesn't have to be divorce. It could be grieving. It could be the loss of it could be the start of something fresh. It could be a new child. It could be moving to a new city. It could be starting a new grade level. I don't know what you're going through. Maybe it's just teacher burnout. Maybe it's the suffocating pressure of teaching in a classroom that no longer lights you up, because I have been in that season, too. Maybe it's just knowing deep down that this life isn't the life that you were meant to settle for. And here's the truth. You can reinvent yourself any day of any hour. You can even reinvent your idea of teaching your skills. They don't end in the classroom. They're seeds that can grow into so much more. I spoke about my project, of my Bible, and how piece by piece, I put these tabs on the chapters and tried to make this project come to life. And so maybe today's show is like a mini project of a piece or a seed that I'm planting inside of you. Something that says, I feel like I can teach in a different way or in a new way and create new income streams and build a life that gives me a lot of time and a lot of freedom and, yeah, allows you to feel again, joy again. I had to walk through heartbreak to get here. But you don't have to wait to hit rock bottom. Actually, I don't want you to hit rock bottom. Cause it's a really rough place. It's a really rough place you can start today. And friends, this new season, it's waiting to take back control of your life. It's your time now. Let me leave you something practical so that you can do a step by step inside of your own recovery. I call this the three R's for teaching in a new season. The first one is release. You can write down one thing you need to let go of, and it's easier said than done. But maybe it's guilt, maybe it's shame. Maybe it's perfection. Maybe it's the idea that teaching only happens in the classroom. But until you release the old, you truly cannot receive the new. For me, releasing the old Mint. I had to ask for God's forgiveness for something that I did not technically believe in, which was divorce. And I had to believe that I was truly forgiven in order to move on with my life. And when I feel those thoughts of guilt and shame and fear and frustration, I get really quiet. Now, whereas I was afraid of the quiet for so long, I go quiet. I meditate, pray. I read my Bible. I sit there and try to feel God's presence. Because releasing that feeling or letting go of the thought that I had in my mind has been my biggest comfort. The next R in teaching in a new season is reimagine. So kind of in the same idea of releasing. Just take 10 quiet minutes and think about all the things that you could do with your job or your life outside of the classroom or of your home. Maybe it's something like just tutoring online at first, or maybe it's creating resources or starting a membership or mentoring new teachers or starting a podcast. Your teaching gift. It isn't limited to just one format. And the final R is refocus. I want you to pick one thing from your list that excites you and I want you to commit to exploring it this week. No huge commitment, no pressure, slow, steady progress. Just curiosity in action, refocusing your energy and thinking about life no longer as a season of survival, but as a season of growth. These three Rs, they aren't complicated, but if you practice them, they're going to anchor you into a life that doesn't feel like it's just a huge spiral. And they're going to remind you that you are still called. I believe that if you're listening here today, you are still called to be a teacher, even if it looks a little bit different than what you had imagined. So release what's holding you back. Reimagine how your teaching can look outside of the classroom and refocus on one amazing possibility this week if you go to Casey morris.com now I wrote a little book about reinventing your life as a teacher and hopefully making more income than you ever thought possible. Because your reinvention doesn't have to start on New Year's Day. It just has to start whenever it feels good. And if it feels good today, come download our book Casey morris.com now and this is the moment where you decide this season will look a lot different and this season will be yours. As always, remember, your best is yet to come. Thanks so much for listening guys. I cannot wait to see you inside of our new book. We also have a brand new Facebook group that will be opening up next Monday to kind of talk about this stuff on a more personal level where I'll be going live and we'll be sharing our real life stories with other teachers around the world. So download our book, you'll be able to see that Facebook group on the thank you page and we can't wait to see you there. As always, remember, your best is yet to come. And I'll see you right back here next week, Sam.