Days like today are weird for various reasons, every year when it's 'results day' whether it's A-Levels, GCSE's or whatever they're calling them these days I see social media sprinkled with those reassuring words of "don't worry you don't need *insert results here*", "you can get a job no matter what your grades" etc. etc., which is all well and good and although I agree somewhat (grades are not the be-all and end-all) it's still hard to comprehend that when you're in that position and maybe even harder or more confusing when you've done your utmost to receive the grades you wanted, hoped and worked so hard for.
I can only speak from personal experience here but I was one of those students who worked their arses off when it came to revision, exams and coursework. I am creative, always have been and always will be and so I struggled massively with certain subjects (Maths especially!) and with exams/revision in general. Up until a few years ago I still had all of my GCSE revision notes because there were notepads and notepads full, all colour coordinated and decorated with gel pens and doodles in the hope that it would help me understand and remember stuff slightly better and I just couldn't part with the time and effort that had gone into them (as well as being a slight hoarder).
I used to loathe (slight exaggeration) the types of people who could just rock up to an exam with barely any revision or time spent on a certain subject and would be guaranteed a pretty decent grade when I'd be a shaky mess weighing up the amount of questions I just needed to get right to scrape a C at Maths GCSE... I guess that was their talent which I've no doubt would help them later down the line in life or in a career, my talent was drawing, writing, imagining, creating, dreaming and doing and I could never understand the school system but knew that things weren't going to change so I just had to do as best as I could even if that meant after school tuitions and meltdowns to my Mum.
The amount of time and energy I'd put in to stuff that I genuinely couldn't understand or couldn't see why or when I would ever need it is ridiculous when I think back... and no I never have needed to know about algebra or Pi and I'm sure I never ever will. I knew I *had* to go and do extra Maths tuition because I *had* to get a C grade, otherwise I *had* to take it as a subject when I went to college and would therefore forfeit one of the creative courses I was so desperate to study. I took Art and Graphic Design as my subjects in high school (you had to do 2 foreign languages, English/Maths/Science still) and I chose Religious studies as an extra option because I found the debating side of it super interesting. I put everything into all of it (apart from the languages oops, slightly regret that now but I only had so much brain space) and I, of course loved that my creative courses were mostly coursework, lovely stuff combined with a lot of time and hard work, I got *I think* 2 A*s in Art and Graphic Design and an A in Religious studies.
I scraped a C in Maths GCSE you'll be glad to hear... and guess what? If you're creative, work hard, earn a tiny bit of money and can do the very basic maths (or just use a calculator) you can hire an accountant (or ask somebody you know as I did in the early days) to deal with all the complicated Maths... who knew?! And the best bit... Maths is 'their thing' and they're really really good at their thing, like I'm pretty good at my thing and I can ask or rely on other people to do their thing really well and we all help and support each other.
It's quite a special thing when you realise everyone's not just cut from the same stencil. To have a planet full of all the colourful and important things that makes the world so great, we have to have a whole wonderful mix of different talents and passions.
I chose to study Graphic Design, Digital Photography and English Language at A-Level, although I was initially told I wouldn't be able to do this combination of subjects because it was 'too arty' (or something to that effect) but I was adamant and as I'd got A*'s in two creative courses they let it slide, with me feeling like I had to prove I could do it, again. Anyway I did, not always smoothly I must add.. The start of my time at college was flipped upside down after being dumped and losing a school friend in a horrendous car accident. I worked hard, I had fun and although it involved a hell of a lot of work I felt so much more free because I was focusing more on stuff I actually loved and could see me doing for a long time. It wasn't a straight path, college was where I started photographing my first music gigs which lead on to so many amazing opportunities and experiences, I gave up Ballet half way through college which I had been doing since I was 4... You have to make what feels like the biggest life decisions and they are at the time but they are all part of you and will never be taken away from you, you can try new things you can go back to old things and you might be taken down a totally different path but that's okay, that's what life and growing is all about.
I know, from talking to some friends that this isn't always normal, although I hate the term 'lucky' (I think you make your own luck) I do feel lucky that I found 'my thing' SO early on in my life and I wasn't going to stop running with it (felt tips and paper wedged firmly under my arm) until I'd reached the highest mountains. But saying all of that I still had to work hard and prove others wrong, take criticism and knock backs, find my own style and actually, eventually quite simply believe I could do this thing for a job... I could actually make my own job. I had no idea I'd be doing what I'm doing today, I knew I always wanted to do something creative but never in all my tiny dreams did I think I would tick all of the insane boxes I have ticked.
My Mum and Dad always brought me and my brother up to believe we could do anything we wanted, (although even they probably had their doubts at times) we could do what made us happy if we worked hard enough at it and we could carve our own way in the world and that's just what we're doing.
Try to find 'your thing' but know that that 'thing' could be a whole heap of different things that change slightly from time to time, and that's absolutely fine and actually quite necessary if you ask me.
