As a recent college graduate, one thing I have taken away from college is this: GPA doesn't matter.

Don't get me wrong. If you've worked hard for a high GPA, if you're going to grad school or if it's personally important to you, then that's a different story. It's certainly not wrong to strive for a high GPA or to stress over it occasionally. After all, sometimes you are required to have a certain GPA in order to achieve something. But at the end of the day, it isn't everything, and it certainly doesn't define you. So when I say it doesn't matter, I mean that in the grand scheme of things.

For our entire student lives, it has been drilled into our heads how important good grades are. We have been made to believe that our grades are the sole indicators of our intelligence, abilities and essentially our entire being as a member of society. We know this isn't the case, so why do so many of us become so dependent on GPAs to exemplify who we are?

We each have our own standards for ourselves. For some of us, that may be the achievement of at least a 3.5 GPA. For others, maybe it's a 3.0 or even a 4.0. I can understand setting a standard for yourself and pushing yourself to do well, whether it's for an academic requirement or simply personal satisfaction. But what happens when we try our best and still don't reach those desired GPAs?

We beat ourselves up inside, think about what we could've done differently and maybe even deem ourselves as less intelligent. That's not OK.

In my experience, I've found that you can't win 'em all. Things happen, and sometimes, no matter what you do or how hard you try, you don't get the greatest grade in a class. It happens, and that is OK.

I've been an average student my entire life. I've received awesome grades, horrible grades and everything in between. I've never seen a 4.0. Sometimes, even when I tried my hardest, I still didn't do well. Sometimes, I could have done better if I had tried harder. But now here I am, with four years of college education behind me and a Bachelor's degree.

I never let my grades and GPA become my life, and I'm not mad at myself for that. There may have been moments where I should've cared more about my grades and shouldn't have made other things a priority instead, but that's OK. I learned a lot academically, but I learned so much outside of the classroom, too.

I didn't graduate with a high GPA, but I graduated. I'm not going to be any less proud of my degree and my accomplishments simply because I didn't have the best grades in the bunch. I know who I am, what I'm capable of and that I will continue to succeed in life. A GPA will never be able to show any of that.

I'm never going to demean anyone for striving toward a high GPA. If you have a high GPA, good for you. Just don't let it become your sole purpose in college or let it define who you are, because it doesn't.

I'm also not saying that you don't need to try when it comes to grades, because you should always do your best. Your grades just aren't always a reflection of your abilities and shouldn't be thought of as such.

When it's all said and done, you will get your degree and succeed in life. Your GPA will never be able to define what you're capable of, how hard of a worker you are, how intelligent you are or what kind of person you are. It may seem important now, but it will not dictate your future.

Stop letting letters and numbers define you or rule your life. You are so much more than a grade point average.