So you’ve signed up for too many things and you have overcommitted yourself. You’re struggling to keep your head above water and your grades above a D. You want to be the girl that has it all. You want to graduate college with the most extracurricular activities that way everyone knows how hard you tried. You want to be the president of multiple clubs, with the highest GPA and the most honors that can be given to a student but, as you start to do all of those things, you realize it’s not possible.

You can’t have it all. I hate to be the one to tell you that, but it’s true. You won’t be the best at everything and it’s better to learn it now than later in life. You won’t be the best basketball player like you were in high school. You won’t get an A in every subject. You will have a 2 a.m. mental breakdown in the library. It happens. You might cry during a test that you completely forgot about. You won’t have it all together, but that’s okay.

It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to not be the best at everything. It’s okay to mess up. When you get that first test back and realize maybe that major isn’t for you, it’s okay to change it. Your first year of college you will make plenty of mistakes, and you’ll have a lot of regrets. You’re just starting out. Revel in your failures.

You are not the only one who feels like they are drowning. Everybody gets scared but you will graduate. It might be longer than the average four years, but that’s not a bad thing. You are learning something everyday, even if it’s not in class.

Be social. Try to breakout of your shell, even if it terrifies you. You will make new friends. Some will stick with you and some will only last for a little bit, but even that short time they are with you will be helpful. Some people are only meant to stay in our lives for a little while. When you go to college, you will lose contact with some of your friends from high school. That does not mean that you were never friends, but you were friends to each other when you both needed it, and now you have moved on, and that’s not a bad thing.

Make sure you learn to love yourself along the way too. Your mental health is key in college. The most important thing you can do in your four years at college is be happy. If that means you give up a few extracurricular activities, do that. If it means that you stay in bed all weekend instead of going out with friends, do that and marathon a show on Netflix. Sometimes you just need to recharge.

You will learn so much in your four years of college and you’ll love every minute of it.