Surviving assessment stress - Feeding the monster - part 2

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This is kind of a part 2 from last week’sblog…next week normal service will resume and if you are more interested in the fun and frivolity of the youth theatre Toni’s blog this week is a corker – but if you’re as passionate about children and young people and their education this might be of interest to you…

I spent a lot of time last week with children and young people, all of them still in various stages of assessment stress and anxiety that won’t be going away soon.  It occurred to me that the first victims of this state of being are life’s essentials so this is a kind of nudge to everyone to make sure that anyone reading doesn’t fall foul of this sad state of affairs.  

The first essentials that are at risk are the physical essentials – food, water and sleep.  I see people forgetting to keep themselves hydrated or nourish themselves with food and sleep and then wonder why the world seems such an awful place.  Top tip – drink water, eat well and sleep soundly (so all distractions need to be well and truly out of the way – that buzzing phone can only be adding to your stress and depriving you of what you need most.)

The next victim is the creation of a safe community to support us in meeting these challenges.  We get stressed and we snap – we’re the worst version of ourselves and then wonder why people aren’t kind to us.  We ask the impossible of ourselves and everyone around us and then are disappointed when we, and they, don’t deliver and so we lash out.  Listen to yourself when you talk out loud and in your head – are you being fair?  Are you being kind?  Is there any generosity there at all?  My guess is that if you’re having a rubbish time some of it will be down to this harshness – turning this round with a kind, forgiving, generous thought, word or deed might just break any vicious cycles you’ve got yourself into…

The final victim I want to feature in this blog is our self-image…we start to believe the stuff about us not being good enough and the disappointed looks inevitably take their toll.  This is so hard to overcome but if you don’t you’re going to end up having to fight so much harder than is necessary to get through.  So walk tall even if you don’t feel it…fake it til you make it, recognize what you have done instead of constantly focusing on the what isn’t done, learn from mistakes instead of beating yourself up for them, do the best that you can without comparing yourself to anyone else and don’t take on additional responsibility that isn’t yours to carry.    


I suppose my ambition with this slightly preachy blog is to ask you to take care of yourself and each other at this challenging time…beat the system by being strong and achieving your potential despite the ridiculous demands being made of you.  Happily shortly you’ll be out the other side of this particular challenge and in one piece to enjoy whatever comes next…

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