When things go wrong, what do we say? Who do we blame? Time.

"The timing was just wrong."

"Right now is not our time."

"Timing is everything."

Although sometimes timing is the issue, it is not always the problem. These are phrases people often use to explain why something did not work out. Essentially, we are blaming the universe for our failures rather than analyzing the situation and figuring out what the true problem was.

As a high school student, I was smart and super outgoing, but I was also pretty lazy. For some reason, I just expected a perfect GPA to land in my lap if I glanced over my notes every once in a while and sat in my designated (thank goodness that isn't a thing in college) seat. This worked out pretty well for me freshman-sophomore year... but then junior year rolled around.

I was taking four AP classes, a member of ASB, involved in my church/youth group and an active member of DECA. Oh, and on top of all of this I was going through the glorious phase of my first relationship. Due to all that was going on in my life, I began to become distant with my friends and family. The work load began to snowball, my stress and anxiety levels went through the roof and my grades started to slip.

And at the end of the year, did I admit that I had procrastinated? A little. Instead of admitting that I had made some mistakes, I diagnosed my life with a serious case of "bad timing." I claimed there was just too much on my plate at that time or that it wasn't the time for me to be in a relationship. Now that I look back, I've realized bad timing isn't the problem. I just am bad at time; time management to be exact.

In the end, I graduated with a 3.5 GPA, found some of my closest friends and now I'm here at WSU in Pullman. I learned the hard way that you can't blame time, you've got to beat time. College will teach you that in the first week alone.

I probably seem like I lack understanding by discrediting the power of timing, but I am definitely a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. If you put 110% of your effort into trying to make something work whether its a relationship, a job or your calculus class, and it doesn't work... there is probably a reason why. That probably wasn't the job for you! It's possible that calculus isn't your best subject. Or maybe the other person in the relationship wasn't putting in the effort that you were, and you probably deserve better.

All I can say is, do your best. Be the best friend, best student and best person you can, because as much as we like to say it is, timing is not everything.