Although I'm still not as consistent as I'd like to be in completing my homework assignments, I've improved. In addition, given the time I needed, I was able to earn a score of 95 on my 11th grade New York State English Regents exam, a 93 on the Physics Regents exam, and a 93 on the American History Regents.
Social Anxiety Disorder, which was only diagnosed last year, was another internal obstacle which I have been surmounting. .
In the past 8 years, I have had to relocate twice, while my father held and was cut from three different jobs in three different parts of the country. .
In fact, my father was unemployed at least half of every year I was in high school.
The first relocation, in the middle of my fifth grade year, was from Orange County, NY to Tulsa,Oklahoma.The different social environment and my own, inherent shyness caused much bullying and trauma for me. My classmates prized size, appearance, wealth and atheletic accomplishments over intellectual pursuits, creativity and diversity. This was particularly problematic for an unathletic, inactive, and slightly overweight youth with glasses who spoke with a different accent than his new peers, and who liked to read about history and space.
Being bullied, was miserable daily torture. I was not bullied by the really popular kids, just kids at the middle of the social hierarchy with their ownin crowd.? The popular kids, the elite school athletes, might occassionally tease but were not cruel towards me. They merely looked the other way while other, less socially prominent kids were the bullies. Middle school counselors and administrators did little to stop or prevent the abuse. They meted out minor punishments (verbal rebuke, detention) for those who bullied, which caused the bullies to resent me more, and to become more discreet about bullying. .
Social Anxiety Disorder, which had started out, for me, as extreme shyness and fear of crowds, or strangers,had, with the bullying, grown to where I dreadeded lunch time, and was afraid to eat at tables or in areas with a lot of people especially popular students.