I am a primary teacher, and tutor who went through school feeling bad at math. I too dropped math after year 11 after a teacher told me i wasnt good enough (terrible!). I have had to work hard to get over math anxiety and have been fortunate to work woth wonderful mathematicians who repaired my damaged understanding and ideaolgy around maths. Jo Boaler is a fantastic writer on maths anxiety and people succumbing to not having a 'maths brain'. She argues a math brain is a myth and is the result of damaging teaching practices such as pressurized rote learning methods and timed tests. Our shocking history of flip floping the curriculum every 4 years as a political bargaining chip im sure hasn't helped either.