The road isn’t closed. You just have to find a way around.

“You deserve to fail.”

I’d only asked for clarification about a geological concept in my A Level Geography class. And this put down - writing  off any A Level success - was my teacher’s response. 

It was a blunt remark. I’d been trying my best after all. 

Perhaps it was part teenage stubbornness, part hurt. But that afternoon I made up my mind: I dropped Geography A Level for good.

The result of my snap decision? On leaving school I didn’t have enough A Levels to get to university. Nowhere would accept me. 

Those four words from my teacher changed the course of my whole life. They stopped me in my tracks. It was as if a roadblock had gone up. My future plans were in tatters.

So I hatched a new plan for the next twelve months. I took an A Level photography class at my local college two afternoons a week. I worked part time at a record distribution company. During the summer I went on the road selling records at folk festivals (pictured above). And I spent twelve months working part time at my local radio station, co-presenting shows and operating the outside broadcast vehicle.

I was still only 18. 

Those formative experiences were everything. They were the springboard for a career in the creative industries. I learned so much, got so many opportunities at an early age. It was truly incredible.

And once the twelve months were up, I’d won a place on a degree course studying media and communications.

So, I wonder. Had my Geography teacher not barked those four words, where would I have ended up? Perhaps I owe him a debt of gratitude after all.

Because had he been encouraging instead of disparaging, I wouldn’t have looked for another path. 

I wouldn’t have had that magical year.

I wouldn’t have embarked on that wonderful adventure, gaining that experience, getting out of my comfort zone - all the while doing things I absolutely loved. And I wouldn’t have subsequently had a successful career in radio and television.

Perhaps the roadblock wasn’t meant to stop me in my tracks. 

Maybe it was to encourage me to find a better path, one signposted ‘Me’.