Every day is not perfect. Some days are worse than others. Often in college, we feel like we’re supposed to be having the time of our lives. I can’t tell you the number of people throughout my life who’ve told me that college was “the best years of their life”. Most of the time, I would agree with that thus far, but not every day.

Not every day do I feel like I’m in the middle of the greatest moments of my life. Sometimes this is the most stressful and scary and depressing time of my life. I’m only 18, how am I supposed to know what I want to do with my life for the next fifty-odd years? So sometimes we get stuck in these horribly depressing moods. Whether they stem from an existential life crisis or from something simpler, like a horrifying case of heartbreak, they still make us feel like we shouldn't be upset over them.

I like to call my sister in these moments. No matter how bad I’m feeling or how lame my excuse is for feeling that way, she always starts off her calm reply in the same way: “It’s okay to be sad." It’s okay for you to feel this way and you have a right to your feelings.Silly as it sounds, we sometimes overlook that feelings are natural. We don’t have to be these powerhouse, cold, unfeeling machines in college, whose only function is to crank out high GPA’s and party all the time. It’s okay to be sad, or angry, or scared, or feel nothing at all sometimes. It’s okay to cry on your roommate's shoulder because your heart hurts; it’s okay to go on a walk alone because you’re sick of people; it’s okay to listen to sad music and eat your horde of snacks. While it might feel like you have to be the best version of yourself every single day, sometimes we need to be selfish. No one is perfect and no one should expect you to function that way all the time in your life.

Take some time for yourself and let those feelings take you over every once and awhile. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better. Talk to someone; they’ll understand. We all can’t be happy 100 percent of the time. When you look back, you probably won’t remember these moments in your life. You’ll tell kids about how much fun you had in college, or how you met your best friends there, or how you met the love of your life. You won’t tell them about the nights when you’d cry alone in your bed because you missed your mom, or failed your test, or had done something embarrassing that night at the bar. I can guarantee you won’t share those moments, and that’s okay. But you will remember them right now and I hope you’ll remember the words of my sister. It’s okay to be sad. Tomorrow the sun will rise and a better day will be soon to come. So have your moment today and be ready to drop kick tomorrow in the face.