Accepting achievement

All my life I have been the kind of person to ignore and overlook my achievements but recently I have noticed a change within myself, one that is becoming increasingly more aware of what I have achieved in my life. What brought this on your might ask? Well this coming Thursday I will be graduating from college, that in itself is a huge achievement but for me when I took a closer look at it, it became so much more.

3 years ago I started out on what I thought was going to be the best thing in my life, I had worked hard to get through secondary school, sit my leaving cert and get onto the course I so desperately wanted to be on. 3 years ago I set out for college, anxious and uneasy but feeling like I knew where I was going, feeling like I knew exactly how my life was going to pan out but little did I know that would all change.

I started college on the community and youth work course, all ready to become a fully qualified youth worker and do what I love most- work with young people but that is not where I finished. Struggling through second year saw me make a decision I was unsure about which was to change course but became the best decision I have made yet. My perspective widened, my values changes and opportunities opened up.

It was only recently that I realised just how much I have achieved, I finished college, I faced challenges head on, I overcame daemons and I made life changes. Looking back over the last three years which comprised on one major surgery, one overdose, endless amounts of therapy, a change of college course, becoming a See Change Ambassador and speaking to hundreds of young people in the RDS I can sit here and finally say for the first time in my life that I am proud of myself and it feels fantastic to be able to say that!! When I finally accepted that I achieved something deep inside me something changed, who I am as a person has been influenced by the positive step to not only recognise my achievement but to also accept them. 

I have come a long way over the past three years and for someone who once thought should wouldn’t make it through secondary school to have finished college, have a job which is constantly presenting me with new opportunities and have a world of opportunities laying in front of me including everything from travel to going back to college I cant help but be beaming with pride and feeling like I have achieved something. Accepting these achievements has changed me, allowed me to become more optimistic and finally allowed me to see that there is a future for me, what the future holds I’m not sure but right now, for the first time this past year I can finally see a future and I have a reason to fight another day!