My journey with Dyslexia and why it makes me a bad ass entrepreneur! :) Part 1
I’ve decided to split this blog into two parts as it came out longer than expected! The first half is my own personal experience with living with dyslexia in the academic world, the second part will be about what its like to have dyslexia in the entrepreneurial business world and what surprising benefits it has bestowed on me.
I remember when I was around 9 years old exclaiming to some class mates that ‘when I grow up I would like to be a lawyer’, it was met with ‘phfff, you can’t even spell lawyer’, the saddest thing being that it was true. And so started my battle with dyslexia, terrible spelling with incomprehensible written text, trouble with retaining numerical information and structure that was all but attainable in essays.
can you see me!?
I had two choices, either concede defeat to the education that my academic friends around me found so easy to assimilate, or work my arse off to keep up with them. Thankfully I chose the latter. I worked hard enough to get a place at Sussex University. Once again one step behind my peers, this time I sought help. I was allocated a dyslexic support tutor. She was invaluable; as my pen failed in producing the thoughts I had developed for my dissertation, voicing my ideas made them fall into line. Despite this extra support, the anxiety of having to prove to my 9-year-old self and 9 year old class mates that I wasn’t stupid took its toll in my final year, I had lost 1.5 stone and travelled to some pretty dark places in my mind. I remember waking up on the morning of my results, some of my friends opted to go in to look at the page of results pinned up for all to see. I imagined my reaction of receiving the result of ‘your stupid’ in front of others and decided it best for me to look them up online. The snakes in my stomach as I opened up my laptop, typing my user name and password, the brief pause as the website uploads your personal details. 2/1 overall grade and 1st for my dissertation. I burst into tears and slowly sobs turned into slightly hysterical laughter.
When I look back on my academic education I think of it like a marathon, one in which a runner falls in exhaustion a mile before the end, but instead of giving in, crawling pass the damn finish line.
Part 2 next month!
