Two years ago, Katie shared her experience of GCSE results day, and explained how working with Career Connect changed her life. Katie went on to college, then university, and she is now an Engagement Worker at Career Connect, helping other young people to find their path. Here she gives us an update – alongside her personal perspective of results day and advice for anyone not sure what to do next.
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Read Katie’s original blog here
“You’re better than you think you are.”
Ste said that to me, two years ago – my Careers Adviser turned life-guru, turned boss.
I didn’t believe him, naturally – he had to be nice to me, he’d mentored me since I was 16! But now, I believe him…in myself, rather.
It’s easy to tie self-worth into grades, percentages and applications.
My GCSE experience, my ‘alternative life story’, has always been a touchy subject.
When you’re young, so much of your life seems dictated by grades and percentages and applications, and it’s easy to tie your self-worth into it – easy to get a negative result. And think it’s because of some personal failing that you can’t help – to give up and think ‘this is it’ forever. And even though, when I wrote the first article, I wasn’t in college anymore, mentally, it still had a great effect on me and my self-confidence.
Like I said, I believe him now.
Working for Career Connect, I have been so warmly embraced and encouraged, with everyone around me believing so strongly in my abilities, that I naturally began to shift my perspective. In addition, with time and maturity, I look at myself differently.
“I like my life, and I like who I am, and I’m endlessly proud of myself”
I overcame so much, and I applied myself – yes, with support, but it was me that got me through those things. I may only have one GCSE, but I never let that stop me, because why would I? I worked for that GCSE, and I earned it. Everything I have now, the opportunities I have – I earned it. I like my life, and I like who I am, and I’m endlessly proud of myself for managing everything I did, at sixteen, by myself, in college.
Which is to say, your results?
Positive, negative, come what may – they don’t dictate your actions. They don’t dictate you.
“Who you are now, and who you are in a decade… that’s not your GCSE results, that’s you.”
So, if you do get that unwanted result, if you do get unpleasant news – that’s not saying you’re bad at something, or that you’re deserving it, or whatever negative thoughts your mind might make up.
It’s just an unwanted result. That’s all.
“If you can find the resilience and courage to pick yourself back up, then the sky’s the limit.”
You’re better than you think you are!
