To all of you who are nearing the end of that lovely fall semester (or prolonged summer semester since the weather can’t seem to get with the season), I say two things:

First, congratulations!

You’ve very nearly completely maybe your very first semester of college or yet another semester in the long line of semesters that will earn you a pretty piece of paper.

Wait, degree, I mean a pretty degree.

Secondly, I know this is the hardest stretch of the semester. You feel like you have given all you have and there is nothing left. But there is more! You can do it!

This really is the hardest time to dig deep and find the meaning in studying.

Or finishing the major paper or group project you’ve been working on.

Perhaps it feels as though there is nothing left.

Your tummy is still full of those lovely thanksgiving leftovers Mom sent you back to school with cause, hello, you’re the starving, broke college student who missed home cooked meals.

It’s been full court press these last 14 or so weeks and it’s been brutal.

So you argue there is no more motivation.

But fear not, it is there.

You must remind yourself that you have it in you to push through and succeed.

You have made it this far, wouldn’t you hate to give up and fail now?

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Make a list of the few assignments and tests that you have left.

Mark them off as you start to complete them.

There is so much satisfaction in drawing a nice line through something you’ve taken care of.

You will start to see the list getting small and making it to the end of the semester will start to seem surmountable.

Remember that winter is coming and so is that nice long December break between fall and spring semesters.

You can eat all the home cooked meals you want. Mom will probably do your laundry because she is just so glad to have her baby home from college.

You could sleep for a whole week to recover from the late nights and long study hours you have put in over the last 16 weeks. You could read books for fun instead of for an assignment.

December break brings so many possibilities.

Friends, you can do this.

You are smart.

You have the strength in you to power through and finish strong.