When I began this endeavour of writing newspaper articles, I was still in secondary school. The prospect of receiving my GCSE grades, the stress of revision and the ever contradicting educational system lead me to feel rather overwhelmed. I recall almost a year ago I released an article reminding students (and frankly myself) that we are more than any number on a page could ever describe. I still wholeheartedly believe in that article’s message, but today I\u2019m here to shed some advice and light on lessons I have learned after that chapter of my life has closed\u2026<\/p>\n
GCSE\u2019s are hard, but in the grand scheme of things you will end up discovering that they aren\u2019t the worst thing you will face; further study or future job prospects will come along and force you to once again learn to cope with that stress and manage your time in order to stay sane. What do I mean by that? Well as I am writing this it is currently 10 o\u2019clock in the evening, this week is full to the brim and I\u2019ll take you on a small journey through it. I\u2019ve been participating in volunteer work with the National Citizen Service, gaining useful and valuable skills as well as useful information on things such as performing CPR, understanding mental health after Coronavirus and giving back to my community. On top of that, I have been doing at least 2 hours of revision for my medical entry exam\u2026 as well as a-level revision.<\/p>\n
College or further progression is going to push you, no one ever said life was easy or fair but there are ways to combat the stress and challenges we face. You are capable of more than you could ever possibly dream, life wasn\u2019t paved with one direction but instead contains a plethora of branches and stems that could drive you the opposite direction from what you first intended to compete!<\/p>\n
To all my year eleven\u2019s, I will be honest with you\u2026 results day can be quite underwhelming once the shock and anxiety has worn off however, I suspect you might have a different experience. I\u2019m sorry you couldn\u2019t demonstrate your full potential, I hope your summer brought you time to reflect and gear up for the next step of your studies. You aren\u2019t alone no matter what grades you are given, they will never equate your self-worth or hard work because frankly, they are just a stepping stone to your future. I will tell you, get ready for college because it can hit you like a freight train if you aren\u2019t prepared\u2026 just because there are less subjects doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s easier. I remember my first term after GCSE\u2019s and it felt like I went from learning how to swim to having to emulate Tom Daley\u2019s Olympic dive! \u00a0It does get easier, you will make new friends, you will drop grades at first and you will succeed no matter what. I\u2019m so proud of you already.<\/p>\n
To all my year twelve\u2019s, I know it\u2019s incredibly hard for us right now. I never truly grasped how difficult it would be teaching myself half a years\u2019 worth of content\u2026 and having no change to my exams next year. I have shed many tears over this situation and I\u2019m sure there will be many many, more, but I can tell you that all this hard work will pay off and after all is said and done I can sleep knowing I survived a pandemic when many lost their lives.<\/p>\n
Lastly, to my future self – this time has shown me that I am more dedicated than I could have ever imagined; no matter what we face next August, I can confidently say I did all I could to achieve my dreams. Sadly I can\u2019t peer into the crystal ball and see my hard work come into fruition, but I am learning to enjoy the journey. I appreciate my friends, the skills I\u2019ve gained and just smile. Stop caring so much about others opinions and just value your growth because you\u2019ve come so far.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t wait to see where we go next. Until then!<\/p>\n
Article by Young Reporter Alex Greenwood<\/strong> This week’s positive thinking article by Young Reporter Alex. Read on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"xn-wppe-expiration":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-action":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-prefix":[],"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[369,11],"tags":[626],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3cThd-5K6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22078"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22080,"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22078\/revisions\/22080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFirst published in Grimsby Telegraph 18th August 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n