Teachers in Transition: Career Change and Real Talk for Burned-Out Teachers

From Hello Kitty to Ikigai: When Your Desk Isn't Safe, Where Do You Go?

• Vanessa Jackson

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This week, we dive deep into a viral story that’s about so much more than a stolen Hello Kitty Funko Pop. We explore boundaries, respect, and why burnout isn’t just about exhaustion—it’s about disillusionment. Plus, Vanessa shares a simple brain hack for instant momentum (spoiler: it involves a sticky note) and walks you through two powerful frameworks—Finding Your Element and Ikigai—to help you uncover your next career step. Oh, and Rush is going on tour… again.

 In This Episode:

  • The Red Flag Radar segment breaks down the Hello Kitty theft that lit up teacher Twitter — and what it reveals about systemic failure.
  • A quick “5x3 on a 3x5” brain hack to crush overwhelm when you can’t decide where to start.
  • What Sir Ken Robinson and Japanese philosophy can teach you about your next career move.
  • The magic of being unapologetically you — and how Rush found success by doing exactly that.

🔗 Resources + Links Mentioned:

  • 📘 Finding Your Element by Sir Ken Robinson: Buy on Amazon
  • 📖 My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee: Buy on Amazon
  • 📰 The Mary Sue article on the Hello Kitty incident: Read it here 
  • 🎵 Info on “The 50-Something Tour” (Rush fans unite): Check tour updates
  • 📚 Learn more about Ikigai: Book 
  • 📘 Start discovering your own Element and Ikigai with this simple, free resource.  Download here. 


👋 Connect with Vanessa:

🧠 Podcast SEO Tags:

  • Teacher burnout recovery
  • Career change for teachers
  • How to leave teaching
  • Ikigai and career transition
  • 5x3 focus hack
  • Hello Kitty teacher story
  • Teachers and boundaries
  • Funko Pop theft classroom
  • Vanessa Jackson podcast
  • Teachers in Transition

 

The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzsprout

Hi!  And Welcome back to another episode of Teachers in Transition. I am your host, Vanessa Jackson – I’m a career transition and job search coach specializing in teachers who are burned out, stressed out, and just not sure how to leave the classroom.  I am here to help you reach your goals and figure out how to navigate this career transition journey to the life you dream of - with margins in your life to spend with your family, your pets, and whatever else you want to. We going to talk about some of the layers of the Hello Kitty fiasco that I don’t hear other people mentioning, a quick 5 by 3 on a 3 by 5 hack to help focus you when there are just too many tasks, and we’ll spend time today talking about a piece of the career transition that so many people overlook  - the Clarity piece – finding out what you want to do when you are ready to leave teaching. Spoiler alert – not everyone goes into curriculum design and corporate training. 


 Our first segment today is Red Flag Radar – The Funko Pop Fiasco. We’re talking about a story that got a lot of attention this week — and it started with a Texas teacher who had an item stolen off her desk. It was a Hello Kitty Funko Pop.

If you don’t know what a Funko Pop is, it is just a short, eh, 5 in character doll that is an image of a pop culture character. I collect quite a few of them myself.  I specialize in strong woman characters and there are approximately 50 of them in my office while I am recording this. 

If you haven’t heard about the story yet, here we go. This Hello Kitty figure was a gift from one of her students — something that held a lot of sentimental value. There’s a great article on The Mary Sue that covers the story in more detail, and I’ve linked it in the show notes. During the outrage that followed online, she learned the collectible also had monetary value — worth hundreds of dollars. So now we’re talking about something that mattered both personally and financially.

Her first response was what teachers always try first: she said, “Hey, give it back.” When that didn’t work, she left word for the substitute: “I’ll be out. Just put it back on my desk. No questions, no consequences.” Because honestly? Nobody wants to deal with the paperwork. But it didn’t come back.

Eventually, she recorded a video — the camera was on her, not the students — and she let her frustration show. She dressed down the class for stealing from her. And I imagine a lot of teachers listening to this have had a moment like that in their career. I know I have. I’ve had items taken from me, and it’s never okay.

Which brings us to the real issue here: boundaries and respect in classroom culture. A teacher’s desk is supposed to be a little bit sacrosanct. It’s their space. When I was growing up, you just didn’t touch the teacher’s desk. It was off limits. It had a kind of magic to it — we all understood that it wasn’t ours to mess with.

In one of the classrooms where I taught — an orchestra room — there wasn’t a separate office space because we were repurposed form another room in the building. So I got creative. I used a few instrument for those big upright basses and built myself a little fort around my desk. That became my “office,” and I told students, “This is my area; Don’t come in here.” And they respected that. But no amount of class culture stops every infraction.

What really blows my mind in this story is that after giving students a chance to make things right, and getting no response, the teacher’s next step was to file a police report. And the court of public opinion lit up. Parents were upset that she recorded the video. Others said she wasted class time or shamed her students on social media. Most people agreed stealing is wrong — so, small victory there — but there were still plenty of critics who thought calling the police was overboard.

And that’s where the red flag comes in. Why didn’t this teacher feel she could go to her campus leadership for support? Why is leadership completely absent from this conversation? I’m going to make an educated guess: she didn’t go to her administration because she didn’t think they’d do anything — because it was a “personal item.”

Typically, if your personal belongings are stolen from your classroom, you get a shrug and a “too bad, so sad.” According to AdoptAClassroom.org, the average U.S. teacher spends around $820 out of pocket each year on classroom materials. The district doesn’t decorate those rooms — the teacher does. Which means almost everything in that space is technically “personal property.” So when something gets stolen or broken, it’s convenient for the district to say, “Not our problem.”

But if you don’t decorate your room? You get dinged for not creating a “warm and inviting learning environment.” You can’t win. (And if this happened to a Houston ISD teacher, well… we already know that district’s administrative situation is a mess. The state takeover, an uncertified superintendent — that could be a whole separate episode.)

Still, this story raises two more big red flags. The first is systemic failure — teachers can’t rely on administrative help when personal property is stolen. The second is contradictory expectations — teachers are expected to spend their own money creating beautiful, student-centered classrooms, but when something goes wrong, they’re told, “It’s personal, not our problem.”

The next question is this: restorative or punitive? Where do we draw the line between accountability and overreaction? I’d argue there wouldn’t be an overreaction if there were accountability. Some people say a restorative approach might have been better, but she gave them that chance — and they didn’t take it.

And then there’s the symbolism of “the little things.” Because the little things always become the big things. If you’re someone who reads Scripture, you might remember the verse: “He who can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much.” (I forger exactly where that lands). The red flag here is the mindset that the small things don’t matter. Because every teacher knows — teaching is death by a thousand small cuts.

The teacher in this story couldn’t trust the system to handle it, so she went to the police because it was the only way she could show that her property — and her authority — mattered. This wasn’t an overreaction. It was disillusionment. You can measure an organization’s health by how often people feel they have to bypass leadership to get justice.

Some are calling her petty or vindictive. Others are praising her for taking a stand. But either way, the real crisis is being missed. Teachers shouldn’t have to choose between letting something go or calling the police just to be taken seriously. There should be a middle ground — one supported by leadership.

When teachers’ boundaries aren’t reinforced, it’s not just a campus issue; it’s systemic dysfunction. Campus-level administrators stop reporting problems if they think the district won’t back them. Districts stop escalating if they think the state won’t listen. The lack of accountability cascades all the way down — and it all lands in the lap of the teacher.

This Hello Kitty Funko Pop isn’t just a classroom trinket. It’s a mirror — showing us the cracks in a system where teachers are told to give everything, and expect nothing in return. One thing’s for sure: social media may not fix it, but it’s sure shining a light on the skeletons we used to be able to hide in the closet.
 
 And in our Teacher Hack segment — these are the little tips designed to help you get through your day by clearing space in your life or space in your brain, so you can spend more time on the things that actually matter.

Today, we’re talking about the 5x3 Method.

This is one of my favorite ways to do a quick brain dump when everything feels like too much. You know those moments when you’re thinking about all the things you have to do, and you’re either metaphorically — or maybe even literally — spinning in circles because you can’t figure out what to tackle first?

Here’s what to do.

Grab a sticky note or an index card and list five things that you can finish in three minutes or less.

Boom. That’s it.

Do one, cross it off, then move to the next until you’ve finished all five.

Knocking out those tiny tasks helps reset your focus and get your energy moving again — because momentum beats motivation every time.

And here’s a little reminder: motivation is never there at the beginning of your journey. Motivation is a fickle friend — the kind who doesn’t want to get out of bed and join you on your adventure. But once you get going, motivation sees what you’re doing, jumps up, and starts running behind you trying to catch up, wanting to be part of the action after you’ve already done most of the work.

So try it out: the 5x3 Method — five tasks, three minutes each — maybe even on a three-by-five card. 

Simple, quick, and effective.

We’ve spent the first part of this episode talking about what happens when trust and respect break down — when you start to feel invisible or unsupported in your work.

So let’s completely change gears.

If you could be anything else, what would that be?
And maybe more importantly — if you don’t know, then how do you find it?

That’s the question Sir Ken Robinson explores in his book Finding Your Element. He describes it as the point where your natural talents and your personal passions intersect. It’s that place where time disappears because you’re doing something that feels both effortless and deeply right.

For teachers — or anyone who’s been in a helping profession — this can feel tricky, because our “element” often gets buried under years of putting everyone else first. We start identifying so closely with what we do that we forget who we are.

Robinson’s concept is powerful because it gives us permission to rediscover that. To ask, “What am I actually good at? What do I love? And where do those overlap?”

But I also love layering this idea with something from Japanese philosophy called Ikigai — which roughly translates to “reason for being.”  

If you’ve ever seen the Ikigai diagram, you know it looks like four overlapping circles —
 1️⃣ what you love,
 2️⃣ what you’re good at,
 3️⃣ what the world needs, and
 4️⃣ what you can be paid for or what rewards you.

Right in the center of that Venn diagram where ALL four circles intersect is your Ikigai — your purpose, your reason for getting up in the morning.

When we overlay Finding Your Element with Ikigai, we get something even richer. Sir Ken gives us the spark — that sense of passion and flow. Ikigai gives us the structure — a way to connect that spark to the real world, to service, and to sustainability.

Because fulfillment without practicality leads to burnout, but practicality without fulfillment leads to emptiness.

 

Following the Breadcrumbs Back to Yourself

So if you’re sitting there thinking, “I don’t even know where to start,” here is your gentle first step: start by noticing moments of alignment.

Think about those moments — big or small — when you felt a spark. When your shoulders dropped, your breathing slowed, and you thought, “I could do this all day.”
That’s alignment.

Maybe it’s when you’re organizing chaos into order.
 Maybe it’s when you’re deep in a conversation that actually matters.
Maybe it’s when you’re creating something beautiful, or solving a tricky problem, or helping someone see their own potential.

Ask yourself:

  • When do I lose track of time?
  • When do I feel most energized — not drained?
  • What kinds of problems do I naturally want to solve, even when no one’s asking me to?

These are your breadcrumbs. Each one points you back toward your element — and toward your Ikigai.

Write them down. Talk them out. Mull them over while you drive or take a walk. Let them start connecting themselves. You don’t need a full roadmap yet — you just need to notice the patterns.  Writing them down is so important because it helps you to see the patterns.  The main character in a series of detective books by Sue Grafton is named Kinsey Milhone.  She likes to put each clue to a case on a separate index card so she can shuffle them and look at the pieces in new ways.  I encourage you to do that here with all these pieces of your life.  

Because clarity doesn’t usually show up all at once. Sometimes we look directly something but we aren’t yet ready to SEE it.  Maybe we need to look at it differently, or maybe it needs time to germinate. Sometimes, clarity sneaks in through repetition. You start seeing the same themes — the same words, the same feelings — and one day you realize, “Oh. There it is. That’s me.”

And here’s something I tell my coaching clients all the time: you don’t have to know your destination to take the next right step. Curiosity is enough.

So instead of asking, “What do I want to be?” try asking, “What feels like life to me?”

Instead of saying, “I can’t do that anymore,” ask, “What if I could?”

Because that tiny shift — from exhaustion to exploration — is the hinge between burnout and breakthrough.

Finding your element, finding your Ikigai — it’s not about reinventing yourself from scratch. It’s about remembering who you were before the world told you who to be.

It’s about coming home — to your gifts, your joy, your purpose, and your peace.

And that’s where the healing begins – when you become unapologetically YOU.

It’s been a wild week for me because I recently discovered my favorite band just announced that they’re going on tour. Again. I didn’t think that was possible.  AND the ticket sales were this week!

My favorite band is Rush, and the last time I saw them live was back in 2015. Since then, their drummer and lyricist — my favorite member of the band — passed away in 2020. I honestly didn’t think Rush would ever tour again. Certainly, they can’t tour in the same form I knew and loved.

So it was quite a surprise when they announced this new tour — they’re calling it The 50-Something Tour. And since I’m also 50-something, that resonates with me on a whole other level.

I wanted to take a moment to share this little piece of joy, because Rush is a powerful example of finding one’s element. The band has been around in some form or fashion since the 1960s, and their story fascinates me endlessly. The most recognizable voice of the band — the bass player, the frontman, and lead vocalist — is Geddy Lee, who has a fascinating biography called My Effin’ Life. (I’ll have a link to it in the show notes. I have talked about it before. )

In that memoir, Geddy talks about how he became who he is which includes where his work ethic and his drive come from.  You know, he was talking in an interview and sharing that at one point, he was actually kicked out of the band. The guy who was trying to be a manager for them didn’t think he was the kind of frontman they needed. This was WAY back in their early days.  I think they were still in high school, when they were trying to fit into what they thought a band was supposed to look like.

I get that.  Geddy isn’t what would have been considered the look of the year for chasing the teen idol, and his voice is…distinctive.  You love it or you hate it, but there’s nothing else like it. I love it. His work ethic is unmatched, and his devotion to his musical craft is intense. He turned out to be the perfect frontman for what Rush eventually became — a band that refused to conform to the music industry’s expectations.

Rush has always been unapologetically Rush — fiercely committed to the art of music and the passion of performance, even when that meant breaking every rule about what was “marketable.” And ironically, in the beginning, when they tried to follow those rules, the band wasn’t going anywhere. It was only when they stayed true to themselves that they started to make real noise — and gain the devoted following that’s lasted for decades..

Remember, when Rush stopped trying to sound like everyone else and locked into the idea that they were going to be Rush, when they stopped chasing what they thought they should be and started leaning fully into who they already were — that’s when everything changed.  They’ve subverted expectations again when bringing in the new drummer.  The drumme  that toured with Rush for most of its existence. was Neil “The Professor, Peart. The new drummer is woman with some serious technical skills. No one saw that coming. 

They found their element.  And Rush has lived in that intersection of what they loved to do, what they were good at doing, what the world needed and what brought them reward. I am personally thrilled that they get to tour and how they have set up that tour to be respectful to their drummer friend who has passed and the fans. I can’t wait to see how it all works out. 

So in closing, It is so important to always be you.  And that’s what I want for you – so many teachers lose that sense of who they are under the crushing weight of expectations and responsibility (and accountability, RIGHT?) 

I want you:
 To dive into who you are.
 To rediscover you.

You deserve to live and work in that same space of alignment, where who you are and what you do finally match – to find your element.

If you’re ready to start uncovering that, I’d love to help you take the next step.

You can begin with my CLARITY course, which is a self-paced course that walks you through your personal inventory and helps you rediscover your strengths, passions, and purpose — or, if you’d rather talk it through one-on-one, schedule a free discovery call with me. Sometimes all it takes is one good conversation to start seeing the path forward again.

You can find both links in the show notes or on my website at TeachersInTransition.com.

Because the truth is — you don’t have to reinvent yourself. You just have to remember who you were before the world told you who you had to be.
 
You can click on the show notes or the show transcript to see all the ways to connect with me out there in the world, until then remember – you are allowed to be the you that you want to be. 

******* 

Email me at Vanessa@teachersintransition.com
Leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099
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