YOU MADE IT!
Those long 17/18 years in education all came to end this year. Looking at it in terms of years, makes you realise how much patience you had as an individual for the educational system. Lets back track to those early years of life…
As a toddler going into nursery, you were full of life and essentially a blank canvas to be built upon ,with your own dreams and aspirations. I definitely knew I was, obviously I couldn’t firm the new nursery lifestyle, so I ended getting sent home for painting the walls. More to the point, you were given the freedom to be anything you want to be. This would show in various imaginative games played with friends and those pieces of drawing/art work you would take home to the old folks. During this period, you knew nothing better than to engage in activities that made YOU happy.
Over those primary school years, you started to become more socially aware, because you was developing from a toddler to a child to a pre-teenager. Everything that happened at school was internalised, whether it was done consciously or subconsciously. School, friends and your family were the main influences, which helped carved your personality and contributed to the person you are today. You had probably expressed your deepest desires or ambitions to your parents, which were either shut down or praise upon. Everyone’s story is different but at aged 9, I knew I want to get into media, because I was absolutely fascinated by the industry. Those exams like SATS and minor class tests gave you the ability to measure your academic abilities, which prepared you for secondary school life.
Aged 11, you’re gassed because you think you’re a big boy/girl now. You’re allowed to travel on your own, hang out in local areas with your friends, you have a mobile phone and the joy of new found freedom. On my life, secondary school has to be the best worst experience ever. Biologically, you were changing from a child to a teenager, you’re learning to come into your own and develop a character. There was considerable amount of peer pressure that began around aged 13 onwards, coming from various aspects of your life, including school friends. As well, stresses from home or other places that added to the experience and development of your true self. By end of year 9, you might have been swayed by your parents by direct influence over your GCSE choices or you were free to pick subjects of your choice. Furthermore, these subjects would be your gateway to further education.
Whether you studied BTEC or A-Levels etc., you were still educating yourself, regardless of the stigma attached, to one being better than the other. Everyone has different academic abilities, so therefore it was good to explore the various pathways out there. The two years spent in sixth form or college were interesting but demanded more of you work wise. Either you handled it or you let it handle you. I think it’s acceptable to call it training needed to firm the university lifestyle, which basically required the same thinking, in order to stay sane. Many of you might have needed to do retakes and fell into the trap of relying on it, if you knew you weren’t going to excel the upcoming exam. It was like “fuck it, they were there, so why not mate”. Overall, results day was one of the proudest moments of your life, because you couldn’t wait to live by “yourself” and away from your parents. Most importantly, it was a personal achievement you conquered, which gave acceptance into higher education.
The end of the road concludes with university, yeah earlier education prepared for it but the surrounding factors you were NOT prepared for. The constant deadlines, dead 2 hour lectures, the fuckin bus journey there and back, them pointless gaps, the people you meet and all the passa that occurs. Despite those factors, it was time to do YOU and get that degree. That dream job you kept close to your heart, well now was the time to perform academically for it. Fundamentally, at 18 years old, you are a young adult finding your way in life. These years were meant to help you grow for the expectations of real world and adult life. What do you think student loan was for? To learn money management, (these times you probably rinsed your loan on nonsense LOL), pay household bills, funding your food shopping and other activities. It helped develop your sexuality, views on a long-term partners by going through nonsense situations with boys/girls. Before you knew it, the three years blew passed and now you’re happily a graduate. I know some people have graduated already and some are still waiting. Just remember YOU MADE IT, you carried out this journey yourself, don’t fall now. It’s only upwards and onwards from that day of graduation.
Hopefully, you are getting to place, where you are growing to be more comfortable with who you are. You have survived through everything that has been thrown at you so far, so therefore use that same resistance to follow your dreams! Failure is nothing but an obstacle, it’s up to you to take charge and fulfill whatever you want to do and get out of life. Remember, it is never too late!
CD.
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