To the Tweens and Teens Facing Exams Right Now

For many tweens and teens, it’s difficult to hear words of motivation and encouragement during the examination period. Especially when those words of motivation and encouragement try to remind you that the examination and the results don’t define you. It is difficult hearing these words when the education system most tweens and teens exist in, consistently reminds them that it does.

The anxiety is overwhelming. The weight of expectations backbreaking - whether from teachers, parents, or yourself. It can feel impossible to carry. And when every adult around you tries to remind you that you are more than your grades, it can feel hollow when the world you live in keeps telling a different story.

So, when our hands feel tied and our words feel small because it's difficult to remind the tweens and teens around us just how much they matter in all the million other small and big ways, perhaps we can try to sit with them in their doubt, distress, or their shame and their pain.

I also realise that not every tween or teen out there may have an adult who reminds them that they are more than their grades, so I hope my message reaches you.

Instead of trying to convince you that things will be okay, I hope that you’ll hear that I am sorry that this season is so hard. And even if it doesn’t feel true right now, I hope you know that you are more than this moment, you matter beyond results, your life means more than any grade on a paper, and your value is more than any number on a report.