‘I tell all my friends, if you’ve done DofE you can do anything’

Lily Jordan, 16, London

Ididn’t feel like doing anything during the pandemic: I struggled to get out of bed. I closed in; it felt like I was trapped in my own head. I remember sitting in my room, staring at the four walls, wondering when life was going to go back to normal. I was angry at the world for being so messed up, and I was angry that I was missing out on two years of teaching. I’m going to be the first year to do GCSEs since the pandemic first hit and I’ve missed so much classroom time.

Duke of Edinburgh brought me back to earth. I finished my expedition in July and it was challenging, honestly. I hate walking. I will find any excuse not to walk, so when I did my expedition I struggled immensely. I was scared, I wanted to go home.

By the last day I felt like I couldn’t do it. I was cold, I couldn’t feel my feet, I just wanted to give up. One of the youth workers said to me: “Lily, you have a choice: you can quit now and do the whole thing all over again or you can go through the pain.” I took a deep breath and made the decision: I was going to go through with it, I was going to win my award and stand next to my friends and cheer for them. So I did.

When we came to the finish line, I could barely believe I’d done it. I had the biggest smile on my face – I was so proud of myself. Ever since I did that, I feel like I can do anything. That’s the one thing that has got me through everything. I’ll never be able to get over it. I tell all my friends, if you’ve done DofE you can do anything.

It pushed me out of my comfort zone and it made me see things with a different perspective. It just makes me happy, honestly.