So, the first half of fall semester wasn't perfect. Maybe you missed more class than you should have, slacked on a few papers, or failed a mid term. As alone and desperate as you may feel, many college students are in the same boat, feeling desperate, disappointed, and already tired. As the academic challenges and weekly stresses multiply, remember that you aren't alone. At campuses across the country, students are struggling to balance not only classes, but extracurriculars as well. The stresses of school often seem too much to handle, and sometimes it seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day. There's too many deadlines, meetings, assignments, and tests. You just can't do it all.

Oftentimes at this point in the semester, students feel maxed out, like they've reached their limit. Maybe it's time to crawl in a cave, and sleep your problems away.

Maybe it would be equally effective to eat yourself out of the house, home, and stress.

Sometimes, going out with friends and ignoring loads of work waiting at home is a quality choice.

The issue however, is these things avoid problems, instead of solving them, leaving you even more stressed than before.

So how do you find real relief? Unfortunately, you can't wish, sleep, eat or drink your stressors into oblivion, so it's time to really buckle down. You only have half the semester left. You can do this.

First, you need to have faith in yourself. If you signed up for a class, you believed you could succeed in it. Carry the faith you had at the beginning of the school year through the next two-ish months. No one knows what you are capable of as well as you do. Take control of your own destiny, knowing that you can handle any challenge academia throws at you.

Secondly, focus. Knowing you CAN do it is half of the fight. Actually doing it – that's what it takes to win the war. Don't let deadlines pass. Don't allow tests to go unstudied for. Don't miss extra credit, and definitely don't miss class. Take your professors advice. Go to every study group. Make a thousand flashcards and review a hundred powerpoints if you need to. You don't have to be perfect, but you have to put forth effort. Giving it 100 percent guarantees success in the second half of this semester.

As pro-basketballer Kevin Durant once said, "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard."

Now go win this semester.