>No one (or certainly no one not conventionally successful) will ever laud your success as a teacher making $45,000
Well, I've always loved being a teacher. I started tutoring weaker students in my last year of high school. I really couldn't care less that someone "conventionally successful" will not laud me for not destroying my soul in a high earning, high stress, high burnout environment. I will take the lauds of my students, thanks.
My sister taught psychology at a community college in a blue-collar town. It was not a glamorous job, but she was very, very good at it. She consistently got top marks on ratemyprofessors.com. She eventually rose to be dean before dying last year at age 54 (not from covid).
I have a much more "impressive" sounding resume than she did (NASA, Google) but I think she will ultimately have had a much bigger impact on the world because her legacy is hundreds of underprivileged students who will live a better life than they otherwise would have if not for her. No one will ever know, but that didn't stop her. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I did not tell her more often how proud I was of her.
Well, I've always loved being a teacher. I started tutoring weaker students in my last year of high school. I really couldn't care less that someone "conventionally successful" will not laud me for not destroying my soul in a high earning, high stress, high burnout environment. I will take the lauds of my students, thanks.