Challenge – Day 97
When I saw today’s #dailywritingchallenge theme, my mind went to the challenges that I’ve fought to overcome to reach this point of my life – both personally and professionally.
My journey to being a teacher was rocky, to say the least, with a nightmare final placement. With a shortage of schools close to the university, I found my own placement in my home town and moved back in with my parents to complete the last leg of my training. Everything was going smoothly and I even secured a job for my NQT year, but then I fell at the final hurdle. Looking back, I see huge faults in the way that the school treated me (and their staff). The day before the final observation I was told to give up as I’d never make it as a teacher, that I’d already failed. They were right, and in that moment I lost my entire dream of a career in teaching.
I spent the summer working as a temp in various offices and companies, trying to establish a new way forward. I fell into an abusive relationship; at such a low ebb I felt I deserved no better. Fortunately my family and friends helped me out of that pit and set me back on the path that I thought was lost forever.
The university agreed to me repeating my final placement after the summer break – this is where I saw what a school should be like, how support should look. I’m so grateful to that team for reigniting my passion for teaching and helping me over the final hurdle. I started my NQT year in the January at a wonderful school.
My next professional challenge came soon afterwards as I became SENCO the summer after my NQT year. I knew this was the direction I wanted my career to take so when the opportunity arose, I grabbed it with both hands! After only having been in the classroom for 18 months, it was a challenge for me to be taken seriously but I made it my mission to back up everything I said with research and made links with other professionals and agencies who could help me in the role.
Once you’ve been labelled as a failure it’s a tough challenge to move past this and focus on the things you’ve achieved rather than the negative feedback. A decade may have passed since that turbulent time but I know that the imposter syndrome I often experience is a lasting remnant. Challenges come in all shapes and sizes; some are minor and we skip past them relatively unscathed. Some we overcome but the pain of the journey lingers with us. Life is full of challenge but it’s also about choice and I’ve made the choice to invest in myself and my own mental health to keep moving forward and further away from the girl crying into her failed lesson plans.
The most important element of me overcoming my personal challenges has been – and probably always will be – my support network and I’ll always be grateful to them for believing in me when I didn’t.
‘Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.’
Zig Ziglar