Hi All,
I’m new here to the forums, have been reading a bunch and trying to find some guidance.

I changed careers a few years ago, went back to school and got a Masters. After a few fruitless months of job searching, I landed a well paying position in a very remote location. Figuring I had to invest some time and get experience to arrive somewhere I’d rather be, I went to work. It was a miserable and lonely 2 years, but I made some friends to keep me sane, and at exactly the 2-year mark, I got an offer in a much more favourable, though still remote, location.

That was 6 months ago. I am at the new job now, and have been feeling like it doesn’t align well with some of my values, but I’m smart enough to do it and I will learn lots here so I’m traipsing forward. I am still lonely, the nearest airport is over an hour away, my family is half a country away, and my partner is going to school on the far coast. The town I’m in now is friendly but I don’t really fit, despite getting involved in community initiatives and clubs. Everyone here is either old enough to be my parent/grandparent (I’m 31), or is happily married with a gaggle of children which is all they talk about.

The problem comes from a deadline I now have. On a whim, I applied for an assistant job down in a city on the coast, where I will get to teach in the field I enjoy and practice in, rather than just practice it. I landed it. I’m shocked, and now don’t know whether to accept. I’ve always said I wanted to teach eventually, but now confronted with the opportunity, I have doubts. Among them: I won’t be working with higher level topics anymore, it will be back to more basics, and maybe that’s a step down that will lose me respect or satisfaction; I have worked hard to be a professional in my industry, and now I feel like going back to academia will be a strike against me; it’s much more expensive to live there, maybe I could get a similar opportunity somewhere cheaper; and what if it’s not actually what I want and I’ve now jumped jobs again, will that close doors that would be good for me?

Any thoughtful input would be appreciated… I have to let them know my decision today. I’m tired of spinning around in a panic over here second guessing everything.