‘Life’s a journey not a destination’, so sang Aerosmith, whether you buy into their laidback drug fuelled rhetoric or not, it’s not a bad motto to carry with you. Highers results are out today, A Levels are around the corner and as the expectation mounts so too does the pressure. If you get or indeed have just got the results you wanted, the climb begins again, if you haven’t or don’t then the pressure to pivot in a positive way starts. There’s an insane amount of pressure on 17 and 18 year old’s shoulders to be perfect and to get the grades and make decisions about what to do with their lives in a very short space of time.
Now. One could argue as I have, constantly, that a lot of pressure could be removed by having some actual, proper advice from people who know what they’re talking about working with students from a much earlier age – but that’s another argument. The point of this article is just to let you know, that despite everything else I may say in this blog about the need to be proactive, make choices, work hard, apply yourself, seek out opportunity and everything else, that even if you really befoul yourself exam wise – things will probably still work out. Yes, you may not necessarily end up in the same place or at the same time as you thought might but different doesn’t necessarily mean worse. Here’s an article I wrote about your options but remember sometimes things happen for a reason – (https://edducan.blog/2017/08/07/what-happens-if-your-a-levels-arent-what-you-hoped-for-what-to-do-when-it-goes-wrong-in-your-exams-keep-calm-and-carry-on/)
For example, I went to uni at 17. I went to the wrong uni on a course that would lead me towards no obvious career. This happened because I made the wrong choices at A level and didn’t get the grades I was capable of. Indeed when I called to let my parents know, they told me I was ‘a fucking idiot’. They weren’t being mean, they were just thorough. I crapped all over the future I thought I had and had to start afresh.
So I started fresh and I embarked on a new course, and I went all around the houses and done things that I might never have done if I had gone down the prescribed route. I travelled, I married too young and got divorced shortly afterwards, I worked with a Nobel Laureate nominee, I met Stephen Hawking. I got to write a feature film, I worked for the BBC and now I’m getting a book published all about how to get the career you want and decision making for students around university and so on. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/deserve-complete-university-statement-interview/dp/1911383124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501500458&sr=8-1&keywords=is+your+school+lying+to+you) I definitely wouldn’t be living where I’m living and if that hadn’t happened then I wouldn’t have met my wife or had my children. So it’s very hard to regret the ‘mistakes’ I made, because every mistake you make, or decision you take helps shape the person you become.
In conclusion, regardless of what’s just happened or what may happen, your choices are half chance and it may not be the result you were expecting but don’t put your head down, life has a wonderful way of surprising you and giving you precisely what you needed even if you didn’t know what that thing was.
