Hey, there.

So school's kicking you in the butt. Whether it's because you've got three papers due at the end of the week, or midterms are next Thursday and not even your professors know what you have to study, or because you've got to spend 15 hours sketching in a studio without a single break, or because you're working a double job or managing a family along with classes--it doesn't matter.

College is hard.

And all you can think to yourself is, Is there an end in sight? What if I lose my scholarship? What if my major doesn't matter?

What if I fail?

What if it isn't worth it?

To every college student who's bundled up in blankets, not sure where to head forward with their life; to every college student burying his or her head into her hands as the paperwork crumples around them; to every college student not sure if they're going to be able to afford next semester's tuition...

To every college student:

Here's to you!

Here's to you for actually caring about your education enough to make it this far. Here's to you for getting up every morning and facing that 8 o'clock class with plucky courage. Here's to you for spending all that money on textbooks you may or may not ever use again. Here's to you for leaving your parents and family back home, for going it all alone.

Here's to you!

And I know it's hard. I know it feels like the semester is never going to end, that you're never going to see your parents ever again. That the loneliness is constant, that you're going to try and try and try and fail.

That it's not going to be worth it.

But at the end of the day, it's us who have a fire raging in our bellies. And, oh, we're the ones who are going to make it, BIG-TIME. Just you wait!

We have a kind of perseverance that people only hear about stories. We are college students; we find opportunities when it feels like there aren't any. We can spend the night awake and STILL make it to that dreaded 8 o'clock class. We are studious and bright, we are passionate and kind.

We EXIST. We made it this far.

Let me repeat this again: we made it this far.

So don't give up just yet. Life has only just begun. Maybe it's your first semester, maybe it's not. Maybe it's your last semester, and maybe it's not. But no matter what, you DID make it this far. Why throw it all away?

Remember this: you only fail if you don't try.

And oh, we're trying. And not only that, we're succeeding. We're HERE.

So here's to you, college students. Here's to you for caring about your future, your passions, your world. Here's to you for wanting to create your own worlds. Of success. Of brilliance.

College students, here's to you for being your own person.

From,

A friend