The former 'Bachelorette' star said she's been in 'survival mode' for two years.
Michelle Young is stepping out of the classroom. On the latest episode of her Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, the 28-year-old former Bachelorette tearfully revealed that she's decided not to be a classroom teacher for the 2022 - 2023 school year.
"I was sitting down with my co-worker and we were just kind of talking about this school year and how long we've been in survival mode. My co-worker kind of just asked me, 'Well, Michelle, how long have you been in survival mode?'" Michelle recalled. "As she asked that, it kind of caught me off guard to actually stop and think how long I've been in this position. My response was, 'Two years.'"
"I've been in this survival mode two years where I've just been flying by the seat of my pants, but not really, necessarily, living. I was just surviving with the pandemic, with going through these crazy, but awesome changes with the show, getting a fiancé," she added of appearing on The Bachelorette in 2021 and getting engaged to Nayte Olukoya. "There's so much going on."
Michelle explained that, as she reflected on the "double life" she's lived the last two years, she realized she needed to make a change.
"As I kind of sat and thought about that, thought about the position that I'm in, it really just highlighted the fact that there's so much going on with our education system," she said, before beginning to cry. "I really feel that as I move into this next year I have decided to step out of the classroom."
Michelle made her decision, she said, for two reasons: to take care of herself and because the "foundation" of passion she feels for teaching has started "to crack."
"I'm known as the Bachelorette Ms. Young, which is a great thing but it's also this pressure that I always have to be a teacher," she said. "I love teaching, and I'm also burned out on teaching. I'm also more than just a teacher. I really admire and respect the teachers who are returning to the classroom next year, and I also really respect the teachers and educators who are not returning and are able to make that choice because it's not an easy one at that."
Despite her decision for the upcoming school year, Michelle said that she may return to teaching one day.
"This doesn't mean that I'm never going to step back into the classroom. This doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not going to continue working towards a masters in administration and potentially get back into that direct line of education," Michelle, who previously revealed her ambitions to be a school principal.
"It's me stepping away for a year to truly capitalize and push forward and put all of my energy and efforts into my passion in a different way," she added. "[I'm going to] really truly try to push for that change because staying in the classroom and seeing and feeling that weight just shows me that something has to be done."
RELATED CONTENT:
