I think everyone can relate when I say that this past week has been extremely stressful. Finals week. The biggest week of the semester full of countless all nighters, overwhelming amounts of stress, and countless tears. But like everything else, finals week came to an end (even though it seems like it never would).

Ever since we were younger, we were taught that our grades matter. And they do to a certain extent. We had to achieve good grades in high school in order to be accepted into college. We have to maintain a good GPA to get into programs for our major. And if that's not enough, sometimes our GPA continues to affect us in our career as we go out into the real world and search for a job.

Some people do well on their finals, and that's great! I'm sure the accomplishment was well earned, considering the number of hours put into studying. But for the majority of us, we may not have gotten a grade we had hoped for. We put in hours and hours of studying for one test and it doesn't seem to be good enough. And we don't get the A we need.

But that's okay.

We put so much energy into making a certain standard that it drains us mentally and emotionally. How far do we have to hurt ourselves to get that perfect grade? Because here's the thing: we can't obtain perfect. We are going to mess up because we are human. That's just the way it is.

There's nothing wrong with setting goals and challenging ourselves. But we have to remember that we're going to mess up every once in a while. And when we do mess up, we can't let it define our worth. Because in case you may have forgotten, you are worth so much more than a bad grade.

It's important to focus on the things that go beyond the classroom. The things that truly matter in life: being kind to others, developing and growing in our relationships with people, being happy, etc. There's so much more to life than spending every hour of the day worrying about a test grade or an average in a class.

Now this doesn't mean that you shouldn't put in any effort at all into our schoolwork. But you have to remember that there's only so much you can do. Just do your best, and leave the rest in the hands of God. And when you do mess up, learn from that mistake, put it behind you, and keep moving forward. Because life is so much more than one bad grade.