I’ve had attention deficit disorder and anxiety my entire life, meaning I had low confidence and almost zero concentration skills. I was called an idiot and stupid and I was told that I would never achieve my goals because of it. This year I moved to a new school and I am the happiest I had been in a while. I felt safe, accepted and supported in the new environment. They were aware of my difficulties learning mathematics and my anxiety towards it, but they never gave up on me.
At the time of my first test of the year, I experienced some trauma which made my journey a bit harder. I failed that test and it broke my confidence. However, I refused to let it stop me from reaching my goal. The next term I studied every day. But even though I had put in so much effort, I only achieved a mark of 30%. This is when I realised that I need more help. In the third term I attended extra classes and private lessons every day. For the first test we wrote that term, I had so much confidence because I had a support system that believed in me. I achieved 60% and I was proud of myself and everyone around me was too. We then wrote a tutorial to help us prepare for our exam, I achieved 84%. I was finally where I wanted to be, but still I kept pushing. I continued to attend extra lessons and private lessons and then, when writing my maths exam, I felt incredible because I could sit and write my exam knowing I had come so far already.
Battling all of the challenges that come along with mental difficulties and high school itself, maths can feel impossible. But if you work every day and get a support system, then you can achieve your goal. Don’t just say that it’s impossible and that you can’t do it. You can and you will achieve your goal.
Mathematics is not an instant thing, it requires constant work and focus. So even if you don’t get it the first time, get up again and try even harder and prove that you can do it.