Dear Human,

Remember that. You are only human. We are all only human. We fail to realize this, and stress ourselves out by trying to live this ideal and perfect life where we do everything perfectly. Unfortunately, nobody is perfect. We all want stellar grades, a great relationship, a well-paying job, a perfect body, an enormous house, and for life to just flow perfectly, but these things will not happen if you are constantly scolding yourself for minor errors that are a normal part of life.

In order for life to go perfectly, you have to accept that it won’t. You have to prepare yourself for the worst, and always pray for the best; but when the best doesn’t happen, you have to be okay with it. I used to be so hard on myself, especially with my grades. As life continued to happen, I asked myself, what is being hard on myself doing for me, other than making me miserable? Yes, I may have gotten a 55 percent on my Biology test, but you know what? LIFE GOES ON. You will fail. You will fall down, but you need to remember every single time to get back up, and when you get back up, you cannot admonish yourself for falling in the first place.

No one can be good at everything. It’s humanly impossible to be perfect at everything you do. Newsflash: THIS IS OKAY! If you are consistently hard on yourself, you're missing out on one of life’s greatest lessons: learning from your mistakes. You will never learn to be okay with yourself until you accept your imperfections. The reason many of us are too hard on ourselves is because we set extreme goals, and when we fall short of them, it is upsetting. Try to train yourself to be happy with even just trying to reach your goal, because at least you tried. If you’re persistently aiming to accomplish something, that in itself is enough to be proud of.

So when everything seems out of place, things aren’t going your way, or you are having the most stressful week of your college career, just remember to take a deep breath. Relax. No matter how hard things seem now, it is only temporary; they will be over and you will get through it. And no matter the outcome, life will still proceed. In ten years from now, your failures will not define you. So why should you let them now?

Sincerely,

Human