In the midst of a college student’s life—the crazy schedules, the sleepless nights, the nose deep studying—we tend to get engulfed in the little things. The little things that define our classes, our moods and even our happiness sometimes. Those little things are grades.

It’s hard to put a smile on your face when you get your test back and see a grade that you are not happy about. It’s hard to not think of it as the “end-all be-all” type thing, and it’s hard to be OK. I’ve fallen victim to these emotions and actions multiple times. Just this past week, I got my accounting test back, which I thought I did well on—but to my dismay, it was anything but that.

In these moments, it’s hard to not let the “bad” grades define us. We get a 60 on a test, and we automatically think that we are not good enough, will not be successful, so on and so forth. In today’s society, we are pressured to do well in everything—to do everything, to be perfect. That includes our grades.

How can we get away from this? How can we not let grades define us?

We have to start off by telling ourselves, and believing, that our best is enough. The important part of our education is learning—we need to focus on that. Who cares if your test grade wasn’t as good as you thought, as long as you learned something. Maybe test-taking isn’t your strong suit. I know mine isn’t! But, just because I can’t answer 20 questions in 10 minutes does not mean I’m not good enough.

We next need to take our grades with a grain of salt; not get caught up in that one number, not be in tears because of one grade. In 20 years, that one grade won’t be worth anything. But what will be worth a lot is your work ethic, your tenacity, your drive.

As a college student, it’s easy to forget these things as we get caught up and overwhelmed with our busy schedules, trying to make the grades. Life is not something you can quantify and put a number to, and that’s an important thing to remember as we move forward with this crazy thing we call life.