Something I've always been a firm believer in is that the universe knows what it's doing. And if you don't believe in the universe or some other force having a hand in how our lives pan out then this article probably isn't for you.

It probably started at the beginning of 2017, where everything started to slowly go downhill. Disagreements with teammates and lazy coaches caused me to quit my school sports teams, arguments with friends made my social circle smaller and smaller, misunderstandings with my prom date left me dateless with two weeks before prom, slow season at my job lead to them cutting back hours, a bunch of little things that slowly began to add up. It wasn't until I got to college that I truly began to realize that everything does, in fact, happen for a reason.

When I sat down and reflected on my first couple of weeks of college I realized that every irritating, bad, or inconvenient thing that happened to me really did have a reason behind it. Had to move out of my dorm two days after moving into my dorm after a disagreement with my roommate and move to a different campus? Caused me to become closer friends with the people I knew that lived on this campus and allowed me to become more familiar with the bus system quicker than I would have if I lived on the other campus. Missed the last EE for twenty minutes and will be late to my class? Ran into an old friend that I had literally no idea went to the same school as me.

Once you begin recognizing all the little positive things that happen after a traumatic or unfortunate occurrence, it becomes easier to recognize the fact that everything negative that happens to us has a purpose. Sometimes it's difficult to find the good in the bad situations, especially if you're upset about what's happened (which is obviously gonna happen) but after you step back and look back on what's occurred its easier to realize that everything that happened, ultimately benefitted you.

This saying also became imperative in keeping myself calm in extremely stressful situations. Picture it: 2 a.m., a day before the final you know your gonna have so much trouble with, and your computer crashes, losing not only your study guide but the majority of the notes you took during the second half of the class. Extremely stressful right? Yup, it was. At the moment, it seemed like the worst thing that could happen to me, but the loss of my notes and study guide prompted me to reread chapters and look over lecture slides again, ultimately causing me to study harder and understand the material further. If I hadn't been prompted to study more by the loss of my study guide its completely possible that I could've failed my final and not been able to take the class it was a prereq for, but rather, I passed the course with flying colors and easily understand the material in the class I am in now. While at the moment it seemed like the worst thing ever, by reminding myself that there's an exact reason why this happened to me, I was able to remain calm.

When you go to a school with students' reputation for having bad luck, also referred to as "RU screw" it's easy to give up hope in anything positive happening. By reminding myself that everything happens for a reason, I'm able to remain calm and more upbeat whenever something negative happens, while keeping those around me calm too.