People considering my life would think that I have it all. I have a wonderful life with great friends and family members filled with opportunities. I wouldn’t trade it for another. However, despite popular belief, I do not have it all together. What college student has their life put together? I haven’t met one.

With considering dropping classes or switching majors, college students are constantly hit with waves of stress.

There will be weeks with little to no stress, which causes paranoia thinking that you are missing an assignment or an important deadline. Then, there are those weeks that make you want to pull your hair out. It seems like the professors communicate to make your life miserable with an overwhelming amount of stress.

People are different. Some people can thrive on stress and some people shut down completely. There are parts of my life that I have coped both ways. I wasn’t content with that lifestyle. It was exhausting to wake up every morning sweating, crying, and panicking because I was so stressed about my grades, finances, and life. It wasn’t living for me. It wasn’t a life that I wanted to live.

That’s when I decided to see every stress of mine as a blessing; I figured that I was too blessed to be stressed.

I know that it is kind of cheesy, but let’s consider it. As I stressed over an exam coming up, it was a blessing because I cared about it. It was important to me to do well on it because I knew that it was going to my career.

I was stressed about a job interview, so I prepared for it. I knew that I was passionate about it, and I wanted the job. Therefore, it was a blessing.

I started evaluating my stress, and what I found was both shocking but also not surprising. I was stressing over things that I could lose. I could lose my dream of becoming a nurse. I could have lost the opportunity for this job. I could have lost the ability to happy.

Doctors will tell you that stress damages the body. However, a little stress, for me at least, shows me that it’s worth stressing over. It is something that I want. Therefore, I work for it. I prepare. I know what it takes to succeed because of my stress.

Stress is something that you can let knock you down, and make you step back from your goals or you can take it as a blessing. You can take it as a thought of validation that whatever you are doing matters to you.

Even if it is small, something about what you are doing matters to you. So, find the passion in your stress, grab it, and run with it. Follow it, and make it a blessing.