Why am I doing the BAPP course?

Already I am starting to ask myself that question. Why am I doing the BAPP course?

After being out of academic education for over 8 years, it is proving more difficult than I expected. I am not lacking motivation as I am desperately wanting to do it but getting my brain to think in a different way other than what colour eyeshadow shall I wear for the show tonight? did I sew up the hole in my fishnets? where in the world am I tomorrow? or what cocktail shall I have after the show?To the outside people they cant understand why I have stopped working as a Professional dancer and I know there are going to be times where I ask myself the same thing. That is why I have chosen to write this blog post, as something I can look back on as times get tough through out the course to remind myself why I have chosen to further and develop my career. During our first Skype induction call Adesola said something that really got me thinking 'If you are professional you will always continue to learn'. This gave me the fire in my belly and flicked the switch my head, I have become complasant over the past few months and it was time to change this.

After picking up an injury on my last contract it got me thinking hard about what I do want in my life. These things included a family, a house, a stable career, being able to go to the cinema, or see my friends more than once a year, be able to cook for myself, eat what I want and when I want.

I am nowhere near that stage of having a family, I don't even have a boyfriend for one, only a small amount of savings and not a clue of where I want to live. But a few those aspects I knew I could put back into my life if I decided to take the plunge and go for the career change.

I thought about a few different career options: setting up my own health food cafe, being a personal trainer, becoming a dietitian or nutritionist, even being a dog walker. But for most of those it resorted back to the aspects of the industry that I didn't enjoy that come alongside being self employed 'when is the next pay check?' being in charge of your own holiday schedule, tax returns!!!! I battled through them for 6 years, and I just wanted a stable job in one place with a pension.

It was my Mum, who suggested going into teaching. At first I brushed the idea of. I have always hated teaching in the past, but as times change people change and I decided to embrace it and give it a go. I returned back to my local dance school, where I started when I was 5 years old, and started applying for jobs as a TA in educational schools. After looking around a school the fire in my belly started again and I knew teaching was the title of my next career chapter.

This leads me to how I have ended up down the BAPP course. In order to progress further it was time to develop my skills and qualifications, and I chose the route of doing the BAPP course with the intention to do my PCGE after.

I like to use affirmations a lot in my life to help keep me motivated and inspired. Here are a few that I think I will need to help me along my way of this course.

'Tough times don't last, tough people do'.

'Education is supposed to be challenging in order to transform'

'If you are professional you will always continue to learn'

If you are struggling to get motivated why don't you write a list of the reasons why you are doing the course, what you intend to gain out of it, think about what can help you along the way to keep you on track and lastly you have to remember

Best Wishes

Lauren

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