Making the choice: Back to work or Back to School?

By Michelle Vandepol; Author of Mother Mexico.

It isn't just your kids or the neighbors' who are going back to school. Many adults are retraining for the challenges of today's work force. You might be on your maternity leave or are approaching yours. Maybe you are coming back into the work world after a few years of focusing exclusively on home or are burning out in your current position. You thought that there was one main focus: when to go back to work and how long to stay. But you are realizing that today's job climate has shifted. It might not be so bad to have multiple options at the ready. The choice has expanded to be back to work or back to school?

Deciding on your next move does not have to be strenuous. Make it simple the old fashioned way. Do the pros and cons thing, putting pencil to paper and mapping all the options out. Use those spider diagrams, engage the brainstorming, and watch what happens. You may find out quite quickly what it is you really want. Informally polling your friends is an easy helpful way to get insights and how to tips at the same time. Ask people who have done back to school or back to work or even those who have done them at the same time. Ask what would they do differently knowing know what they didn't know then. You can benefit from their experience. Take notes over coffee.

Creativity in thinking and flexibility in planning can help you. Take pieces of each advice or story that appeal to you, or you think would be an asset to streamlining your life, or fulfilling a need, and leave the rest. Think about how to tailor-make your leave and return to the workforce to make it ideal for you. You want to make it as efficient a transition as possible.

You need to really evaluate what you want. Is it satisfaction in your job of choice in your ideal line of work? Is it less important what you do and more important to have your job be the supporting role to your life? Only you know. Spend some time figuring it out. Factors coming into play are most likely finances, time, support, desire, and child care availability. Think of how your choices will affect your lifestyle both now and later. How will a student loan affect your finances? How will you feel if you are still in this organization or field a decade from now? How long will your transition be? What can you do to make things easier on yourself?

A change is as good as rest they say. What have you been doing lately? Change it up. If you felt burnt out prior to your workplace leave, consider doing the opposite to what you were doing. Making your choice an even more positive experience is all in the day to day attitude. The buzzword is acceptance. Acceptance of your life as is, flaws and all; and acceptance of your limitations on your to do list and your dreams. (not in scope but in how fast you can live life and pursue them) There will always be another day in which to do what it was that was left behind yesterday. And if there isn't, you don't want to have lived only in search of something you are never attaining. Let life catch up to you. Prioritize and figure out how to enjoy your life and search for what is most important even while following the step by step everyday work.

Chip away at your goals. Be realistic, but optimistic: believing the best is possible, but planning enough to get you out of the worst case scenario. Use common sense. Sometimes the timing is off to do what you really want and it will be there in a couple of years.

Whatever you choose, work or school, commit to one or the other for a pre-set length of time. Avoid impulsive switches back and forth. They will cause interruptions in daycare and your work record that might be hard to overcome later. Take care of your business to do with enthusiasm and a realization of what is enough both in commitment and effort and have fun tackling something new.