A new qualification

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

It's taken way longer than it should have but i finally made it. 

Leaving high school i kept believing i'd failed because i never achieved NCEA level three. I only just scraped by on my level two, while my family and friends succeeded greatly. It's the reason I put off Uni for so long. "I failed at school, so why would i even try at Uni". This thought pattern went on for quite some time until i was overseas and something clicked. I eventually started talking myself out of those thoughts and enrolled into Waikato University, four years after leaving school. I sailed through my first year relatively smoothly, passing all assignments. But for some reason, i then set my expectations higher for second year and immediately started doubting myself and that's when i begun failing. I was failing in my head before i'd even received assignments. It got so bad that in the end i decided study wasn't for me. I just wasn't born to be academic. So I left University with my head down low. I'd failed yet again. I was even in denial when I received an A in my final assignment, and was only one point off an A+. The tutor also asked for my permission to use my essay as an exemplar for the following years. I thought she was pulling my leg, but agreed none the less. Since then, I believe that A was the best thing to have happened to me, as although I had the mindset of being a failure in my mind, in the back of my head receiving that A gave me a sense of hope. A sense of hope that maybe the timing wasn't right, but i should try again when i felt ready. 

Fast forward a year and a half, and i'm back into it, being enrolled in an Outdoor Leader certificate, majoring in Bush, as well as an Out of School Care & Rec certificate and a Level Three Youth Work certificate. 12 months later, I am still going with the Outdoor Leader due to surgery (bookwork's completed), and needing to complete my practical assessments. Still awaiting the second stage of the OSCAR certificate BUT officially graduated with the Youth Work certificate. Wahooo!!! 

It has taken way longer than it should have BUT it's achieved. With this qualification i can finally feel like i've achieved something in life!