Career versus big scary change

I've been thinking a lot lately, and we know how bad that can turn out :-)

I've been putting all this effort into becoming a teacher~and that's good. The world needs teachers. But I had this whole crazy noble "change the world one child at a time" naive mindset about it, and I KNOW that I know better than that.

I guess I'm realizing that I'm not going to make as big an impact on things as maybe I wanted. I'm not sure how to phrase it.

I want to actually affect change. And that can't happen teaching toddlers songs and colors and their ABCs. And while children and education, I believe, are not only major ways to do that, but major REASONS to do that, I can't figure out how to incorporate that into my day-to-day life.

I have a lot of ideas, a lot of opinions, and I don't feel like I will ever know just how they might have panned out because I don't know where to start.

It's not like I can say "scrap this whole education degree; let's go get a Poli-Sci degree!" because one, Amanda needs to eat and have a roof over her head while she does so; two, Amanda and Zach cannot live on Zach's income alone; three, Amanda cannot allow herself to be supported by her father for much longer and still keep all of her self-respect.

So I have to get a job soon, and the only thing I'm actually qualified for is childcare. But I know that it's a job with very little room to grow, and really no impact on social policy.

I feel like I'm coming to all kinds of realizations about myself too lat ein the game to be able to actually explore the possibilities. Most lobbyists, or even just people in politics, seem to have law degrees or political science degrees. They've done internships with influential people, internships that had them in DC or wherever for a summer. I no longer have the luxury of going to DC for the summer to do an unpaid internship. I have bills, I have responsibilities. I have a husband who I would have to leave behind for a summer, and that's just not gonna happen.

I guess I just don't know where to start. I mean, I've Googled it (which just shows you how little I actually know about getting started) and one site was all "run for local office". Well, durr. But if I don't know HOW to run, what qualifications I need, what I need to do, and even if there are positions to be filled, where does that get me? I guess I need to find out WHERE to find out that information...