Dear J,

I think that wherever we go, we will ALWAYS find something/someone which will try and make our life hell or who we won’t get along as well as we hoped we would. I think here you should just keep going with your life, if this is taking you towards your dreams (teaching abroad according to what I read? 🙂 that’s beautiful!) and ignore all those negative ideas. They should and cannot define you, because you are so much more than the person selling shoes or the employee leaning against a rack.
Do something you really enjoy doing everytime you leave work, to remind you not only of your worth but of all the façades there is to you! Go to the movies with a loved one, take some hobby with a shared class like painting, do something that calms you down and brings you joy and, most of all, reminds you – you are not the high school person, you are not the daughter, you are not the employee, you are not the painter or the friend. You are all of that and much much more! 🙂 Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!