So I’m 17, which means I’ve just started my A levels. I took english lit, geography and psychology, and until now, I believed english was my strongest subject.
Then I got a bad grade.
I mean, it wasn’t even that bad – 16/30… that’s 53%… It wasn’t awful… I guess? It certainly wasn’t anywhere near the top of my class, which is something that I’m really not used to.
But that made me think; if I hadn’t seen what the other people in my class got, then I wouldn’t be as self critical. Yes, I wouldn’t have been overjoyed, but I definitely would not have been so harsh on myself. Today’s youth are taught to compare themselves to others to feel value… this is something I realise I really, really dislike.
Maybe this task just wasn’t my strength, that it wasn’t my day or maybe I just didn’t do enough work beforehand. Whatever it was, it doesn’t make me bad at english, and it’s not going to make me give up; if anything it’s going to make me work harder and harder so I can achieve (ideally) an A or A* at the end of the course. After all, this is one of my very first essays, and was completed in timed conditions – of course I wasn’t going to do amazingly!
I think it’s important to remember that one bad grade isn’t the end of the world, and, at the end of the day, there’s always help available, even if you do have to work hard to find it – everyone around you wants you to do well :))
Today’s quote is from a book that I’m reading for my english course (*sigh* what else would it be). Yes it’s cheesy, and yes it’s another from Oscar Wilde, but I think it’s super important (and it also ties in very nicely with today’s post). Because no matter what grade you get, what image you portray or what others say to limit you, you are not ‘ordinary’, and even if it’s not immediately obvious, there is a way to excel, stand out or even just feel happier and more content with your situation.
Aaaand again, this has turned into a horribly cringy, cliche post. Well done Abi ://
‘Never love anybody who treats you like you’re ordinary’- Oscar Wilde, taken from The Picture of Dorian Gray
