MeghannMix with Meghann Scully: Less stress, more success
LEAVING Certificate results came out last Friday, the first regular cycle since the pandemic. It is always an incredibly daunting day, going to the school gates, or logging in online, heart racing, while the screen loads, or you begin to tear open that all-important brown envelope. Did I do enough? Could I have studied harder? I liked the Irish paper. The English paper caught me out.
Those seconds feel like hours, sweat forming on your forehead. It truly is the most gut-wrenching moment because you think this is it, this will dictate my entire life. And, for some people, it does, but it does not spell the end of the world.
I always knew I wanted to work within the media industry, ever since I stood on the altar and read at Mass. I enjoyed presenting to an audience.
I honed the craft of public speaking from the tender age of 12. That was a defining moment that has stood to me in my career. I remember visiting my aunts, who lived in Limerick, while I was still in school, and once I stood on the grounds of the University of Limerick, I knew that’s where I wanted to study.
My career doesn’t require you to study a particular course - many friends have broken into it without any degree or cert. They did work experience and built from there. For me, personally, I wanted to live the student life so it was for a personal experience, not a professional one.
My course wasn’t high points. It was achievable. I knew if I did just enough during my final year in secondary school, that I could achieve the points for the course. Work smarter, not harder as they say.
I had a lovely final year in secondary school. A mix of study, sport and socialsing. I wanted to enjoy it and not stress much.
But that morning as I walked the steps up to the main door, I suddenly thought, have I done enough? Maybe I should have slowed down on the sporting and social side. Thankfully, I scraped by on the points needed and got the course.
I saw so many people who worked incredibly hard, sacrificed so much during those final years of school for studying and then didn’t obtain enough points and they were devastated. The life they envisaged for themselves shattered before their own eyes.
There will be students experiencing that same gut-wrenching feeling this week, heartbroken. But not all is lost. Nowadays, there’s so many options and alternatives. While I am a massive advocate for university and student life, it’s not for everyone.
The important thing to remember is that this just means you may take an alternative route and you’ll discover that it may be the right one for you.
My mother married young and didn’t get to study while she raised my brother and I. When we moved to Spiddal in 1995, she decided she wanted to get a degree and took the steps to make that happen. She returned as a mature student. She now has a degree, postgrad and a masters. She did it later in life and she’s never looked back.
I know people who wanted to work in a certain area, who went on to do year-long courses, travel or work in a similar field and have then gone on to obtain their desired degree.
But they have used life skills from that time that they have been able to adapt into their careers. Some others went into a completely different field and have found their calling, so to speak.
So the message is that no matter what happened last week, no matter what happens this week or the week after, you have choices, you have options.
Maybe there is something you loved outside of school but never saw it as a career. I have many friends that got a degree in one area but work in something totally opposite.
Or maybe you just want to start working now. Even if you get your desired course and go on to graduate from that, you can always try something else after.
What’s for you, won’t pass you.