‘I needed something to look forward to, something to put my mind towards’
George Wilcock, 18, Doncaster, Yorkshire
The first lockdown was really difficult. I ended up losing my property maintenance apprenticeship after I’d only been in the job for six months and that hit me hard. Having nothing to do just made me lose all my self-worth. I’d go to bed at five o’clock at night and then I wouldn’t get up until three in the afternoon. Not talking to anyone or seeing anyone was awful. I would text my mates, but it’s not the same, is it?
My Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award got delayed and I ended up doing my expedition only two weeks after losing my job. I was really on the fence about going. It was hard to go and try when my head was somewhere else. Ultimately I needed something to look forward to; something to put my mind towards.
It was good to do the expedition – but really hard. We had terrible weather so it was painful, but I did it with a lot of friends and it brought us a lot closer. We had a great laugh. I’m quite an open person and when I’d been telling my friends that I’d been struggling, it was hard for them to do anything – but doing our expedition helped me realise everyone was going through the same things, everyone was struggling, but we were all in it together.
As part of my Gold Award, I was also volunteering as a coach at my local cricket club, where I was working with a lot of younger people, between five and 12. That has really helped me find it easier to accept when people can’t do things or struggle, and since I’ve been able to see that in other people, I’ve learned my own flaws and can be kinder to myself.
After I finished my Duke of Edinburgh Gold, I applied for a new college course – which I got onto – and a few days after that I ended up getting a new job as well. In the interviews the main thing they asked about was DofE, and they were really impressed with the confidence it gave me. Since doing it I could tell myself that I could achieve things, and it made me want to actually do those things too.