Why going to an education setting with so much opportunities can make a person thrive in life

Evening all! Hope you're all enjoying your week so far, whatever you're doing. I'm just trying to keep myself as busy as possible with my extra credit & any upcoming work I have with Disability Challengers.

As the title states, I am going to be discussing why an opportunity-filled education setting can really do people with gifted mindsets the world of good. What I mean by this, is how academic people want to be able to excel, as well as show off their learning ability in an education setting like no other.

And I will be using Epsom College for my chosen example.

Why did I choose Epsom College as my example?

I chose Epsom College, because it has so many learning opportunities like no other place does. Well, that's my opinion anyway. In comparison to other education settings, I see that this one has every single opportunity in stock, whereas other places don't. (Not trying to cause offence here)

What really helps support my option, is that I have watched the virtual tour on YouTube. The video consists of 2 students giving you the tour of the place, as well as talking about what their educational life is like for them there. Here's the video in case if you're interested to see for yourself: 

How does Epsom College cater for the needs of the gifted?

For starters, Epsom College considers the fact that there are (and still will be) people out there who want to wish to be well educated. Not just to be educated, but to be educated to the very best of standards. 

This is done in such a way, because the students who attend there, have an inquisite mindset by wanting to develop their interest in something in every single approachable way possible. It's as if their mindsets are constantly barking at them to be able to learn every bit about what their interested in that will help them what they want to do in the future.

Is there any evidence that those students do well in life after Epsom College?

Yes there is! According to the website, there is evidence that shows the support students get while applying to universities across the UK & abroad. Evidence in the website also include careers talk, discussions of their academic ability & seeking work experience. 

Conclusion:

Not every educational setting has to be made out as a stereotypical "Normal place of learning." Primarily because this particular education setting just happens to stand out more than the rest. As a matter if fact, non-typical education settings seem to achieve more praise due to how well they stand out.

It's all about the focus

Before you all ask yourself by looking at the title, this is NOT a chosen quote I have picked from the internet for a QOTD, this is just a post that I have decided to do (with the chosen post title) as I made some choices that I wasn't proud of at the beginning of this week, as well as what I nearly ended up doing because of how I was feeling. This was what had inspired me to make this post.

My outcome for this post, is to make everyone reading not feel alone if they are going through something similar, or need some encouragement to keep focusing on achieving what they want to do in life regardless of how long & time consuming it is taking them. What I am about to tell you is not exception.

For the past 4 years, I have been dreaming of a career in the policing. Around the same time, I began developing my passion for psychology, and wish to do something in that industry as well. And because they both combine well together, I chose to do Public Services at college due to there being a ton of psychology involved in that industry. 

That journey to get to where I currently am now had started at doing a L1 Sport & Public Services course, where I got to learn more about what policing is actually like, rather than the stereotypical catching criminals, as well as learn about the basic fitness elements. During the COVID-19 lockdown, all I was doing until I had finished for that summer break was creating online posters on Word promoting sport activities. I thought I wouldn't be able to get through it during that lockdown, but I just got on with it like my future ambition depended on it. I even signed up to the OpenUniversity to get a few psychology related qualifications under my belt as well, just to get me prepared for my future. (Which was going to uni back then)

I then made an easy progression onto the L2 course doing the same thing, but it was more to do with sport & fitness. By that time, I felt confident enough to create my own blogging website to share my then & now knowledge of psychology to an audience. Especially during the 3rd COVID-19 lockdown, where I couldn't do anything else besides coursework for 3 months. I was mainly doing a lot of coursework & practical sport & fitness that relate to mental health, which I really enjoyed learning about, as well as doing. Let me tell you, doing what I did during that 3rd lockdown felt like the hardest thing I had to go through, let alone embrace, but I knew it was important that I get through it, because of I didn't, I wouldn't be able to progress onto doing L3 Public Services.

When I did get onto my 1st year of L3 Public Services, I felt like I've already accomplished a major achievement, just by simply being on the course itself. However, I never expected the FULL-ON assignment workload which layed ahead of me during my excitementfor the first 2 months. I remember feeling the struggle of the workload around halfway through the academic year due to falling behind with my assignments. Luckily, I managed to knuckle down in my free time, so it prevented me from making that mistake again. Before long, summer had hit, and I was able to relax with a sense of relief,  knowing that I have already done well enough to progress onto the 2nd year. In that time, I suddenly wanted a career in the Royal Navy. (After finishing uni)

Because I did the 1st year, I was able to do the 2nd year of my L3 Public Services course. Again, this felt like I've already accomplished a major achievement for just progressing onto the 2nd year. I made sure to get onto doing course right away, so it gave me plenty of time work through them calmly without feeling any pressure to rush them. However, that all changed at the beginning of January, where I had new assignments come out every 2 weeks. From then up until May, I was literally neck deep in coursework that I had no choice but to take a hiatus for 3 months. I also made the decision to not go to uni in that time frame too. Although I still thought it was worth going to 2 open events back in December just to see what uni life would be like.

Overall, I would say that I have experienced some high stress levels throughout my whole L3 course in Public Services. This was because I felt like my whole future depended on getting a decent grade at the end of it, or else I would be screwed.

Back in March, I was reccomended by my tutor that I take the SC route into policing, instead of doing the uni route, so I didn't have to stress over UCAS points, which worked out for me. Also around that time, I was employed by Disability Challengers as a part-time play/youth worker. (A job I'm very proud to have for reasons that shall be explained in another post) Back then was because I was still in the mind of going to uni, and thought this job would pay off my student loan.

Fast forward onto this month, I am not working in the Police Force just yet. This is because I feel like I should just settle down after everything that has happened from January - June. Especially with my job at Disability Challengers, as I want to put my focus on that more during the time being as well. 

*This was where my poor choice occurred*

I was reccomended to do extra credit at college by doing a L2 Health & Social Care course. Because I have done a L3 course, I feel like it's pointless doing a L2 course afterwards, so I wanted to drop out of education by looking for full-time work that would work round my Disability Challengers job. This led me to bunking off college in order to attend job interviews. Even then, I thought I was getting somewhere, but after lengthy conversations with a few people, I realised my choice was getting me nowhere, but trouble.

This was also where common sense hit me by saying that the more time I spend in education, the more qualifications I will have. Plus, the more qualifications, the more likely I will get into my dream career. I then vowed to myself that from next week onwards, will be clean slate. To make this happen, I must embrace my situation by just keeping my head down, and getting on with everything without backtracking my focus.

That pretty much concludes my long arse journey progression talk. I hope this has given you all courage to be more open about your journey progression as well.

Remember, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FOCUS!

Onwards & upwards.✊🏻

Why facing your fears makes your mind feel more powerful

Hello everyone! This was something that I did with my work colleagues at Challengers this past Saturday. (9/9/23) If you want to find out more, click on this link to view: Basingstoke Team Abseil Spinnaker Tower for Disability Challengers

And because there is psychology involved with facing your fears, I thought about mixing in my facing my fears experience along with talking about the benefits & outcomes in the same post.

*An action shot of me abseiling down Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, UK*

My personal experience with facing my fears:

Let me tell you, it's not very often that I get to abseil from something that is stood tall at 100m! 

Prior to my abseiling experience with my work colleagues, I have always been jittery about dangling over a height. Hence, I rarely got to do any abseiling at all. What I mean when I say being jittery about heights, is me being up a height where I can look down it. 

However, as soon as I saw the opportunity to sign up to the Spinnaker Tower abseil, in aid of raising money for work, I immediately jumped at the chance. This was mainly because I wanted to challenge myself by abseiling from a height of 100m. Besides, if I didn't do this, I knew I was only going to regret it.

Fast forward to when I was abseiling down the tower, the waiting by the abseiling platform (where I waited to be clipped up to my abseiling rope) was a bit nerve-racking, as I had to wait for 2 of my colleagues to go down first. Once I got the rope clip on process out of the way, I proceeded to position myself onto the tower wall. (Where I was abseiling down) I thought to myself: "The quicker I get going with my abseil, the less time I will have feeling nervous." Although, as a matter of fact, I was actually feeling excited/nervous combined.

The second I hit the floor, I felt so accomplished & mentally powerful that I feel like I can do anything involving heights!

Benefits & outcomes:

As well as debriefing about my personal experience with facing my fears, I will say hands down that being able to face your own fears (whatever they may be) head on, will make you feel more powerful in physical appearance & in mind. With that said, being scared is good for the mindset, as the feeling helps it to grow stronger.

I suppose the overall benefit of facing your fears, would be to do them more often, as if they suddenly became second nature to you. An example of this would be climbing up a 40ft height everyday.

If you've reached this far in reading this lengthy post, all I can say is well done, as well as thank you. And I hope this post has taught you all something new by feeling inspired to go out & face your fears.