Rediscovering the Sparkle

Finding balance, freedom, and joy beyond the classroom

29 November 2025

Fliss Falconer

If you’ve known me for more than five minutes, you’ll know how much I love new things. A new idea, a new venture, even a new dog-walking route… if it’s bright and shiny, I’m all for it.

But after a while, the sparkle can fade. What once felt exciting starts to feel samey-samey, and I have to remind myself to look again, to rediscover the joy that first caught my attention.

The exceptions, of course, are my children, my husband, and my pets. (Though with Mr F doing Movember this month, it’s been startling to see him transform: clean-shaven one week, slowly morphing back into his groomed Viking beard the next!)

Some things have surprised me with their staying power: the town of Ludlow, scones, Joop scent, BMW Z4s, Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien, Op. 45.

My current job might not sound thrilling to everyone. To most, it probably looks repetitive, operational, even dull. I’m prepared for eyes to glaze over when I explain what I do. But here’s the truth: in nearly three years, I can count on one hand the days that have truly sucked. It still feels shiny-shiny, and I’m forever grateful to my tremendous boss and team for making it so. I’m equally grateful to my teaching colleagues who supported me when I made the scary leap out of the profession. This role is everything I wanted and more.

So here I am, on a Saturday evening, happily tapping away at my thoughts. I could close the laptop and head to bed. I could game. I should probably order Christmas presents. But today has been lovely: family time, a massage, a walk around beautiful Ludlow, laundry folded, even a spot of reviewing from bed this morning. To an outsider, it might sound deliciously dull. To me, it’s all shiny-shiny.

This year has been full of leaps - dog, fence, car, performances, socials, cat, apprenticeship, audition, blog, tutoring, website, even diving headfirst into AI. People often ask how I keep it all going. The answer is simple: I’m busy because I need to be. The constant taking on of the new and shiny keeps me moving at the pace my brain craves.

Teaching was a different kind of busy: warp speed, constant multitasking, endless lists. I’d crash into bed exhausted, anxious, and wired on sugar. Even “part-time” meant all-consuming planning to get two children to two different schools, then myself to my school, every morning from a fair distance. My fuse was short, and at times, I was a terrible mother, wife, and daughter. If I hadn’t jumped, I suspect I would have been pushed.

Is it any wonder that newly ex-teachers in our team still worry about getting into trouble for making a cup of tea, or even taking a bathroom break? What has the profession come to, if something as simple as breathing feels like escapism, a fugitive act, something clandestine?

The other day, I posted a video of me cycling one-handed while Charlie ran freely beside me. It was 8:30 a.m., just after school drop-off. I’d already logged on for half an hour, and was heading home to work again. That small act of freedom - bike, dog, morning air - was remarkable and poignant. I’ve joked so many times that my biggest old-age regret would be spending most of my life marking. This freedom is what I always dreamed of having.

So what’s my point? I think I’m trying to find balance. I cannot go back to that frenetic way of life but after a few years of finding a new groove, I am branching out again.

I miss the busyness of teaching - so I’m doing a university course alongside my full-time job.

I miss delving into texts - so I’m tutoring and reading literature again.

I miss being in front of a class - so I auditioned, and will have a little spotlight (what on earth have I done?!).

I miss making resources - so I’m cultivating a website that blends literature and wellbeing.

I miss my baking business - so I’m building something new that uses old skills and pushes me to grow.

I do not miss my previous life as a teacher. (That sentence took a long time to form, after swirling adjectives, feelings, and physical reactions finally settled enough for me to type it.)

I am finding balance: being a mother to the best children, a wife to the best husband, a daughter to the best parents, and an employee to the best colleagues.

And right now, it all feels rather shiny-shiny.