Such a good post @Lapis_Anteater !
I only finished school last year, and for my QCE I did all the essential subjects because I couldn't get an ATAR. As a chronically ill person it was just too difficult, along with all the other barriers to it, and I felt like such a failure for the longest time. Only recently did I realise that there are so many ways to get to where you want to be, I'm studying a cert IV to get into uni next year hopefully! If not that, I'm potentially going to be a trainee train driver or keep working for a while.
I know I struggled so hard just to realise it'll be okay no matter what I did, and a lot of that came from peer pressure and from other people who were supposed to help me. But that's one of the things I wish past me could have learnt sooner. That no matter what I did everything will turn out okay in the end. Just find your passion, if you don't know what that is then the next best thing is to work for a while, build up your bank account and save as much as possible. Once you know where you want to go or where you think you fit the most, everything will fall into place and your journey will be shaped by your experiences and boost you wherever you go. 🙂
I think it's really hard, there's so much pressure in school to do well, to go to uni, and to have a job or two by the time you finish high school. It's unnecessary, but unfortunately that's how the whole thing goes. It's slowly getting better but there's a long way to go.
