THE pressure at HSC time can be asphyxiating, so daunting it comes with its own emergency helpline.
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And for hundreds of local teens, the HSC journey – and, indeed, the schooling journey – is about to come to a dramatic conclusion.
On Thursday and Friday, HSC students will receive both their exam marks and tertiary entrance ranking.
For some, it’s just another box to tick off before adulthood.
But for so many others, it seems like the final, inescapable arbiter of the future.
This, of course, is untrue.
It would be foolish to suggest the HSC does not have an impact on the direction your life will take.
But it remains just one of many paths to employment and adulthood.
History is littered with high-achieving students who failed at life and classroom dunces who now own their own islands.
That’s because while education will arm you with knowledge, life will arm you with wisdom.
The most successful people are often those that take the path less travelled.
They’re the people who recognised success means finding your passion and, consequently, finding your true self.
And university isn’t always the best place to go looking.
Only real-life experience – with all its failure and festivity, injustice and inspiration – will guide you towards self-awareness and self-fulfilment.
Life’s true lessons will be learned away from the classroom – some people will dislike you for little or no good reason; the material things you long for will not give you joy; the only way to do anything well is to work really, really hard, and, most importantly, no matter how tough life gets, there are always reasons to be happy, caring and brave.
This generation – so often maligned for being uber-confident, technology obsessed and materialistic – is also a generation under more pressure to succeed than any before it.
That’s a point we should all remember.
If you don’t get the mark you hoped for or into the uni course of your dreams, don’t forget there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
The important thing is to understand and believe in yourself.
Finding yourself is much harder than earning a six-figure salary – and it’s a hell of a lot more rewarding.
