In school I was constantly told by teachers that your school years are the best years of your life. I completely disagree.
Sitting in school assembly, I would often here the headmistress say:
[quote]Your school years are the best years of your life.[/quote]
Feeling somewhat defiant, I thought to myself “I bloody hope not!”
These are the best years of my life. The ones I’m living now.
If you’re brought up to believe that your school years are the best years of your life, then what hope is there for you?
We shouldn’t be raising kids to think that life doesn’t get better after school. We should be teaching people that you can life can ALWAYS get better.
I understand what was meant by the sentence. As a kid you don’t have any of the responsibilities that you have as an adult. You get to hang out with all your school friends, and you have the benefit of long summer holidays.
I know the importance of school, of being educated. I’m not questioning that.
But those were not the best days of my life. I’m now traveling the world! I’m self employed. I’m my own boss.
If I want to, I can sit and work in my pyjamas.
Today, I’m at Gatwick Airport about to fly to Orlando on a blog trip.
After that I’m exploring the USA!
In the last three years, I’ve seen so many countries, experienced new cultures, met some awesome people. I’ve been living life. I’m out there doing it!
In school I was taught that we get good grades, go to university, get a full-time 9 to 5 job, and go on to have 2.4 children. That we wouldn’t have the freedom we have when we are school children. Clearly, it doesn’t have to be that way, because I have freedom.
I couldn’t wait to get out of school. It’s not that I had an awful time of it, but I just couldn’t wait for life to start.
I was a straight-A student, but I felt like school was holding me back. I was in school for 14 YEARS of my life. It was enough. Whilst I understand the importance of schooling, I wanted to be out there seeing the world. I wanted to create things.
One of my passions in school was singing. I was in the choir, I sang solos and whatnot, but I was bored and wanted more. It feels a little silly to say this now, but I remember writing in my diary that I was going to secretly apply to a performing arts school in London and made a step by step plan of how I was going to become famous. I bought a copy of The Stage and looked at all the adverts. I think I was about 11 or 12. Whilst I never went through with that (Mum was a single parent with very little money and I was always having bright ideas) clearly the independence and determination was in me.
While I would never have predicted I would become a full-time travel blogger for a living, I actually have come to realise that maybe I had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit in me all along. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, but I knew I wanted to create my own path and do my own thing.
This is all still a learning curve for me, but because I have taken charge of my own life, there are no limits to what is possible. You just have to believe in yourself, and not be afraid of failure. If it all goes wrong, it is NOT the end, you can always dust yourself off and start again.
The most successful people out there are the ones that weren’t afraid to think BIG. They’re the ones that think outside the box, push things that little bit further and create something that will benefit other people. Many of them didn’t even like school.
I think kids these days should be encouraged to be more entrepreneurial, to create ideas, businesses, projects…to pursue their passions. I’ve come to realise that life isn’t about what grades you get in school. Those exams, those school days are barely even a memory to me. What matters is that you find something you love, and you go with it, whatever that may be. All it takes is one thing.
So no, your school years are not the best years of your life. The best years are the ones you create for yourself.
photo by Barbara.K on flickr
“Sitting in school assembly, I would often here the headmistress say:”
You don’t want to let your teachers see you spell ‘hear’ like that Victoria!
Completely agree with your post. I think it’s so easy to get conditioned while in school too, being told you need a ‘standard’ life – job, house, mortgage, partner, kids, debt, stress, 2 weeks abroad each year. It must be as so many people automatically do it, hate it, yet don’t see an alternative.
I think it is a massive contributor to the culture of binge drinking to escape from the mundane reality of Mon-Fri that is so prevalent in Britain.
(*composed and submitted while wearing my pyjamas – but I’m not sure that’s a good thing)
haha oh my error! and i am obsessed with spelling!! it was a very late night working when i wrote this! definitely agree with you about the binge drinking…i was on the train making my way to gatwick airport the other evening and it was full of men in suits who were drunk on their way home from after work drinks. they definitely didn’t look like they enjoyed the 9 to 5!
I couldn’t have said it better myself! I mean, I loved school but it taught me that there was a plan I had to follow and everything would end up rosy – I’ve strayed from the plan and I’m never 100% sure things are going to work out – but it sure as hell is more fun this way! x