During the midterm season, it's easy to feel hopeless and feels as if you're literally the dumbest person at your school.

After a midterm for one of my classes this past week, I felt so utterly stupid and inadequate. It made me question why I was attending such a prestigious school. What did this school even see in me?

In the midst of all these depressing thoughts, my TA for that class sent us an email and told us to watch a motivating video to make us feel better after we all got wrecked by our midterm.

I thought, "This is so useless. I don't wanna waste my time watching this dumb crap."

But, I looked up a motivating video on YouTube and found one that Will Smith had narrated.

The video took short clips of the numerous topics that Will Smith talked about, but two things really stuck out: what self-disciple means and why there is no reason to have fear.

At first, I thought it actually was a waste of time, but it really made me think. The first thing I asked myself was: what do I mean to myself? Do I really love myself?

He defined self-discipline as self-love. "I love you too much to let you do this to yourself." If I really do love myself, then I would have the ability to control myself from doing things that make me feel bad afterward.

Why did I procrastinate and pull an all-nighter? Why did I let myself eat that ice-cream when my ultimate goal is to be more healthy? Is the immediate gratification really worth the subsequent regret? Isn't the long-term endurance and respect you earn so much more gratifying?

Secondly, I have no reason to fear.

If you know a thing or two about me, you know how much anxiety I have. I have so much fear instilled into my heart. I have fears about history repeating itself, how the future will play out, how people perceive me, and many others. I mean, the list can go on and on.

But, why do I need to fear? What's the point in having anxiety tens of hours before I actually have to face the fear? It just ruins my day and makes me feel terrible for a long time before I have to face the fear. "In that moment, all of a sudden where you should be terrified is the most blissful experience of your life and God placed the best things in life on the other side of terror."

Message to self: Lauren, I love you too much for you to feel this way about yourself. You are a precious daughter of God, and He doesn't give you anything you can't handle. You can do it!!