Following a Feeling, Slowly
I listened to an episode of the Jonge Jaren (Younger Years) podcast this morning — the one where Ernst-Jan Pfauth interviewed Hadewych Minis. Among other things, she talked about how important it is to follow your feelings. That whenever you feel you need to follow a new direction in life — even if it’s scary — you should trust that feeling and go for it. Maybe it’s a cliché, but like many clichés, it’s one we probably need to hear again and again before we really believe in it enough to continue down its path.
It made me think about how I ended up teaching.
For years, I worked as a professional software developer. But at some point, a shift slowly started to happen. I started studying how to become a teacher through a formal and part-time educational route, began working a few days a week in a high school, and eventually transitioned to full-time teaching, split between high school and university. It wasn’t one big leap, but a series of small decisions that all came from a persistent feeling that this was something I wanted to do.
Looking back, that gut feeling didn’t come out of nowhere. Teaching had always been part of my life in one form or another. I’d been a student assistant during my computer science studies, coached athletics since I was 15, and volunteered at CoderDojo teaching kids to program. So in a way, becoming a teacher professionally was just the logical next step. But it still felt like a risk at the time — a step into something less certain, an area in which I didn't prove myself yet.
I’m glad I followed that feeling. It worked out. And because it worked out, I’ve developed more faith in trusting those kinds of nudges. That seems to be how it goes: once you take a chance on your gut and it leads somewhere good, you’re more likely to do it again.
And maybe that’s the thing with clichés. They’re easy to dismiss because we’ve heard them too often. But sometimes, when you’re ready, they hit differently. You don’t need them to be original — you just need them to be true. How did I know I was "ready"? Well, I didn't. But I guess you just need to make the jump sometimes and then find out where you land.