For those of you in high school, college, or any other type of schooling, you know how much teachers and administration go on about your GPA. "It will follow you into college!" your math teachers tell you. "The first two years of high school count on your transcript!" your counselors exclaim. You always hear something about how your GPA can make or break your high school/college career. It is very detrimental to those of us who aren't that good at school.

For those of us who were average in high school, hearing that our GPA was SO important was really stressful for us, and possibly made us do even worse in school because of it. As someone who has had tragedies happen in high school, it became even harder to maintain a good GPA, and it even dropped an entire point from freshman to sophomore year.

I was always told that my grades are important, and I won't disagree, they are. However, when it got to the point that my mental health was failing, even most of the teachers/counselors/whoever knew, did adequately at best to help. I had to go to a professional because I just couldn't live with how the adults in my life were handling my mental health.

My point is, teachers, counselors, administration, etc. all put SO MUCH PRESSURE on us to do good academically, but fall short when we REALLY need help. We were always told how important it was to make the grade but never told us that we mattered or that anyone cared.

So, I'm here to tell you what my high school failed to: I believe in you! You've got this! You DESERVE those mental health days! Go take that nap! You MATTER! You're great and amazing and wonderful and you'll kick butt!