Let’s do worst case scenario.
Thursday morning arrives and the envelope or the email containing your GCSE results is the biggest shock you have received in your life and the numbers staring back at you bear no resemblance to the grades you need to progress you to the next level of your journey.
Blind panic will set in and in many cases sheer horror; it may begin to feel like the end of the world.
It is not.
I repeat it is not.
Let me reassure you that disappointing GCSE results do not ever signal the end of the world, they merely signal that your route in life may be about to be redirected.
I am not diminishing the significance nor the importance of your GCSE examination results. In fact, I would argue they are possibly the most crucial set of results a young person achieves in their life.
What I am saying is that, the GCSE results act as a series of stepping stones to put you on a certain path. Disappointing results may mean that the college course you chose is no longer available to you this year; it may mean that you have to take a more scenic route to your destination or it may mean that you have to completely rethink the next couple of years of your life. That may not be a bad thing at all.
I am actually a great believer in fate. ‘What is meant for you will never go round you.’ It is an expression that has served me very well over the years. Just think for a moment all the life experiences that you would have missed out upon if your GCSE results had of taken you down one path. You are simply about to go down another route, the route that is meant for you; your GCSE results are signposting you to the destination to which you are meant to be heading.
We learn by our mistakes and the wisest among us take our mistakes and use them to create our most powerful successes. So you ask yourself what you would do differently from this point on and going forward.
If however, your results are disappointing just remember – that is all they are – disappointing. Take a breath, reassess and use what you have to the greatest advantage that is available to you. Disappointing examination results do not stop your journey they merely reroute you down an alternative path.
Best case scenario.
You receive the very best results you could have ever hoped for. The world of choices lie at your feet and without a backward glance you wave to me in the distance of the school yard as you head off to celebrate with your friends.
You secretly message me when you arrive at Nando’s and tell me how much you love me and how happy you are, and I understand that you simply wanted to look cool in front of your friends.
My lovely child, I wish you the greatest of successes for Thursday’s results day, I hope that you wave your piece of paper in your hand on the school yard, triumphantly jumping up and down with pride and relief and joy.
And in case I forget to tell you, I love you from the bottom of my heart.
Sharon Cawley is the Principal Director of Conexus Tuition