I recently got a tattoo. I had waited and waited and tried coming up with the perfect thing to put onto my body for the rest of my life. I’m an indecisive person who can’t even choose a fast food restaurant to eat at. But I saw three little words for maybe a minute and decided they were perfect for me.

In Omnia Paratus means “ready for anything” or “prepared for all things.” The phrases are basically the same in meaning. Some just choose one over the other when translating. I am a woman who is ready for anything and prepared for all things.

When people see the tattoo they ask me what it is. Usually, I just say it’s latin words and they go about their business without asking what the words actually mean. Above the words are mountains and waves. Why? Because life can be hard to climb and overcome like mountains or as rough and unpredictable as the sea.

As a college student and young adult, we normally don’t have too many things to worry about. We go to class and to our part time jobs and then go on home to watch Netflix and eat junk food. Normally. Then there are the ones who have no choice but to work a full time job or maybe two. The ones who have to take semesters off because their family needs them too or they simply can’t afford classes. The ones who have children their junior year and have to work even harder.

There are the college students and young adults who struggle. The ones who have to pay every bill and for anything and everything they want. The ones who don’t have the help. Or the ones who don’t want to ask for the help. So many of us find ourselves in this position and the age this is happening to is getting younger and younger.

I am part of that group of college students. The woman who had a child during her college career and the one who had to work two jobs while attending school. The one who believes there is a solution to every situation in life. I will say that it is only by God’s mercy and love that I’ve managed to get this far. I’ve felt that helplessness and struggle. The terrible moments when everything feels like it’s too much. The overwhelming weight of the world being on my shoulders.

But you know what else I am? I am ready for anything. I am prepared for all things. Thanks to the support of family and friends and God, I can overcome whatever is in my path. So, college student who feels like the world is coming apart and you don’t know how in the world you are going to move forward, get yourself ready for the impossible. Be ready for everything. You don’t have to tattoo the words onto your body to remind yourself that you are capable of conquering mountains and waves but you need to fully believe it.

Because you absolutely can conquer the world.