I have no idea what forum this would even go in. I apologise about that.
I am 20 years old, so don't worry, I'm aware I have time, but I hate that phrase now, it sounds like an excuse to stay lazy and that's all I've been for 3 months. Formatting is probably going to be messy because I'm not an organised writer. The reason might appear obvious eventually or it might not.
I feel quite useless to be honest, it's pretty obvious to me that I have wasted 7 years of my life not caring about my education, or frankly, my actual life, I'm still not making any sort of attempt at communicating with people or creating connections, and I have been lettings my standards constantly drop to be far, WAY far below the bare minimum needed to live life contently. I spent my previous 4 years doing... I don't want to sound egotistical when I say this because it's my own fault that it happened and I didn't care about the choices I was making, even last year I didn't, but I can only describe them as BTEC courses that I now look at and see myself as an idiot for taking them. I did find the subjects easy, but it wasn't my lack of passion, it was the fact that I constantly felt like I was wasting time, I dropped out of the recent BTEC because I just didn't care about completing it and had a bunch of excuses for doing so that weren't true. It was this moment that has got me thinking the last week as to my attitude to life, I'm never going to learn how to cope with my own hardships if I don't even allow myself to go across the easiest lines, let alone challenging tightropes. Commitment to projects was always my biggest weakness because I'm easily bored, (I have ADHD as well, it could be a minor factor) but I need to learn to deal with that boredom for long-term goals. I need to actually start setting goals as well, I've never set any serious, or even menial goals for myself, almost ever.
I think I could potentially, at the very worst, (even if it's not true, I do not want this to become a reality in my life) be stuck fulfilling a lifetime of jobs I'll be miserable in, or jobs where I wouldn't feel stable in. I want to ensure I have at least some form of academical achievement, especially a large one at that in the long-term, as it would show that my past was some bizarre Hollywood short based off an irregular, dystopian patch of carelessness.
My problems started in year 9;
Firstly, probably the only good decision I took over the last 7 years; deciding to come off my ADHD tablets at the start of year 9, I had ticks that made me look and sound insane, it was extremely distracting for not only me, but the entire classroom, and sometimes the teachers, it was a full year of nonstop ticks, it was actually affecting my attitude towards learning ages before coming off of my meds (years later I found out the tablets were way too high in dosage. I was such a small student as well, what was I taking 30mg of Elvanse for?), the problem is that I never went back to be reassessed for lighter medication, which I regret a lot because I'm now taking 36mg of Concerta and this medication is my biggest motivator to change my habits.
Secondly, and most disastrously, my sleeping problem, this problem had been developing since year 7, and it was getting worse and worse. I was almost always sleeping in my classes, and was actually falling in deep sleep most of the time. I could never get my sleep schedule in check because I was too busy playing video games or watching Youtube well into the night. It was such an atrocious problem they stopped having me in classrooms (apart from English and Maths), then they stopped having me in school apart from when I had English and Maths lessons due to my poor attitude to change. My sleep problems are still near enough the same but it could be due to a lack of physical activity.
Thirdly, I never studied, I know this will be a problem but I'm actually aware of most study techniques and how to use them effectively, I think it will click very fast with me, I want to learn them before I potentially, somehow, find my way somehow getting into a university.
Lastly, if you want an example of dystopian GCSEs, I don't think it gets much worse than this;
I left Year 11 with a myriad of pathetic. That sentence makes no sense, but that's intentional, it's meant to be as pathetic as me in the past;
I got a bunch of 1s for a start, maybe one or two at 2-, I wouldn't be surprised if I had a U in a subject.
I also got a 3 in maths, although to this day, I still have question marks over what happened with my third paper as I still don't know if I did actually take it or not because it read as 0, but whatever. I'm so insulted with myself that I couldn't even care that I was taking foundation instead of higher paper in a subject I used to fly high in, I didn't even care about doing well enough in the classrooms, it didn't even cross my mind to ask if I could take higher paper Maths, it was my only chance at a pass, especially a grade above a 5.
I got my 4 (I'm still so depressed at this grade) in Maths the next year, and my 5 in English the next, so I have something, not even close to enough for me.
My GCSEs are a result of my attitude, my sleeping problems, my focus on the most unimportant things that would never help me improve, and my high levels of apathy and carelessness. In spite of all of this, even when I knew how bad my results were going to be, I didn't care or feel sad about my GCSE results, it was more of a 'huh, whatever, I'm fine lol, back to video games before I go to college to do something I don't even know why I'm doing'. I think that is a perfect description of my attitude at the time.
So here I am now, wanting to know how I would take actual steps to getting to University, because I'm tired of being such an ignorant, stubborn loser. I don't really want to take an OU course because I need to be more interactive in person, even if that's not my style. I'm not sure I want to take BTEC again but I want to know how I'm supposed to develop to be an attainable student who is ready for University. I don't know how I'll appear presentable enough even if I do the correct things before then, the few subjects I would like to study, I don't know what my chances are even if I, I repeat, do the right things to get there in the first place.
I have reclaimed my strong childhood interest in Maths, I have not felt this keenly on it since early year 8, and for some reason my brain has also decided to be somewhat interested in the broad world of Programming, and found some interests in either Software Engineering or the even broader world of I.T., it makes sense, I've been on technology probably before I even had my first birthday. It's just, when I lost my passion in History, along with everything else in high school, so did my interest in Computer Science.
The world of general engineering actually looks like fun to me, but I know my chances are so low now, especially with some of the worst GCSE results you could get in all sciences.
I would love to know how to go about things, because I'm worried having a past this terrifyingly lazy will keep doors irrepressibly shut. I know I'm not in a grave, but if my branches have already snapped off, I don't know if I can replant the damage I may have already done to myself but I am so ready and eager to move already and get it done if possible.
I want to show I care again and I want to show how ready I am to be, and continue to get, better, because I know myself that I'm better than this, FAR better than I've shown, all I've done so far is let myself down continuously, without caring about letting myself down. I want to show actual passion in what I am doing as well.
How do I even TL;DR something like this lol