Leaving Cert results: ‘Celebrate your results...no matter what’

So it’s that time of the year again. Leaving Cert results are here. I sat my Leaving Cert in 2014 and to me it feels like a lifetime ago. I’ve changed in so many different ways since then and that is not a bad thing. You will change so much within the next year or two of your life also, regardless of your Leaving Cert results.

I could tell you that your Leaving Cert results aren’t the end of the world and that you have so many other options like repeating or going with your second choice, but you’ve heard it at least hundred times by now and I know exactly what your answer would be because I had the same one. I also know how hard it was to hear people say it.

Even though it’s true, I’m going to spare you the lecture on it because the reality is the majority of you will stop reading if I do. Instead I’m going to tell you what my Leaving Cert result experience was like during and after; hopefully this will give you a bit of comfort in the lead up to your results.

I was so stressed that morning. I had initially arranged to walk to school with some of my classmates but I just couldn't, so my mam brought me there. I was an hour early purposely but my mam wasn't aware of it, so instead of waiting there she brought me to McDonalds for an hour. I finally got into my school and was delighted with the results.

If you are collecting your results at school and are nervous, don’t feel pressured to open your results there. Take them home, or do what I did and go out to my mam’s car.

During the day try to surround yourself with the people you love, it’s a nice thing to do in general and they will help regardless of the results.

No matter what the outcome is, celebrate. You’ve been through a lot and deserve a day where you don’t have to reflect on everything...you can do that later in the week.

It just dawned on me this year that if my Leaving Cert results went my way then I probably wouldn't be happy in the long run. I wanted to study medicine and even though medicine is an amazing course, I've seen some of the work involved and it's definitely not for me. I am now in the National College of Ireland studying Psychology and believe me when I say that I couldn't be happier with my results in the Leaving Cert.

NCI has become such a major part of my life between the people, my course and the atmosphere I am more than happy with the outcome. I have realised that I’m not the kind of person that could just be a number in a big college. I like to be part of a place that everyone has an opportunity to learn each other’s name instead of their face. If it wasn’t for the Leaving Cert I wouldn’t have met the people or had the experiences that, believe me, are some of the best I have ever had all of which have shaped who I am today and I have that little piece of paper that I received on the day of my results to thank for that.

Abraham Lincoln once said that "The best way to predict your future is to create it" and this quote is so true, even though I wouldn't have understood it back in 2014.

I’m just going to finish off by saying good luck and not just with your results but everything that comes afterwards and remember to always “see the world not as it is, but as it should be”.

Aaron Murphy is a member of the Jigsaw National Youth Advisory Panel.

Jigsaw is The National Centre for Youth Mental Health and exists to change how Ireland thinks about and responds to young people’s mental health, through Research, Engagement and Services. Jigsaw provides free confidential, brief mental health supports for young people aged 12-25. There are services in 10 communities - Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, and in Dublin in Clondalkin, Dublin 15, North Fingal, and Tallaght.

See more at jigsaw.ie