College is stressful.

You hear about how fun it is and how much freedom you have and that’s true. It’s great. But then you also have loads and loads of work due every week and you’re almost always worrying about your future.

You care about your education and your career, but at the same time you don’t want to waste the “best years of your life” stuck inside studying until the break of dawn. You’d rather be out having a good time with your friends, whether it’s at a party or just goofing off in the lounge.

But then, before you know it, you’re falling behind in class. You’re not getting the grades you need. You’re unable to balance your social life and your school work. Finally, you’re faced with a tough decision; do better in school or be dismissed.

Or maybe you’re doing fine academically but you just can’t seem to get involved in enough organizations or land any internships and jobs. You went to a couple meetings for that one club but you weren’t feeling it. You go to events for that organization but you’re just a member. Your grades are good and you get called for interviews, but not the actual position.

It doesn’t help when your parents compare you to some family member like your cousin who’s already working for a big name agency. Or maybe your brother who’s already able to buy your parents nice, expensive gifts with his respectable job. Not to mention all the times when they complain about you wasting their time and money.

It doesn’t help that whenever you look around, all you see are people your age or even younger who are so much more successful than you. The girl who’s president of this club and the chair of that organization and has that job you wanted. Oh, don’t forget she’s also insanely smart and popular.

You start questioning yourself and if you’re really cut out for your major. Honestly, you start wondering if you’re cut out for life in general.

While I can’t necessarily tell you whether or not you should change your major, let me tell you this. YOU ARE GOING TO BE OKAY.

You may feel that everyone else is above you; that you’re being left behind while everyone else is racing ahead, but you’re not.

First of all, you’re not alone. So many people go through the same struggles as you and worry about the same things as you: getting a job, being good enough, living up to expectations, having your life and future together. You’re not the only person who feels like life isn’t going as planned and you’re not definitely not the only one struggling.

Sure, there’s always going to be someone better than you, but that doesn’t make you a failure. Everyone goes through life at a different pace. Some peak and experience immediate success in college, some peak and experience success after college.

You don’t need to nor should you compare yourself to others. Everyone is different. Each person has a different set of skills and talents, a different personality, a different story. Because of this, it’s not fair to compare your current situation to theirs.

Focus on yourself and your talents. Your abilities and your goals.

Secondly, you get what you put out. If you’re slacking off on purpose when you know you could better manage your time, then that’s on you!

We’ve all done it before. Sat in class not paying attention, feeling so unmotivated to try, then you start wondering if you could just drop out and become a stripper. While most of us are just joking about this, having that kind of attitude isn’t going to help you out. You need to be positive and proactive.

Believe in yourself and in your abilities. If you have a lot of trouble believing, talk to someone about it, a friend or even an advisor. Maybe whatever you’re pursuing isn’t meant for you, and that’s okay. It just means there’s something better for you ahead.

But if you do know what you want to be and you know you can achieve it, don’t ever consider settling for something else. Why would you want to? If you know you want to be an engineer, a journalist, a doctor, a teacher, whatever it is, then work hard for it and prove to yourself that you can do it.

You have to keep trying your best and soon enough, you’ll see the fruit from your efforts.

Now, some of you might be saying, “I’ve heard this so many times but it doesn’t apply to me. I try so hard but nothing good happens.”

Well, ultimately, you might have to experience the worst before you experience the best.

It sucks to say, but honestly it’s so true.

For some people, they have to reach a critical point, a breaking point if you will, before things start looking up for them. Your breaking point might even be the source of your motivation.

You might need to fail before you can truly motivate yourself to do your best. You might need to be rejected so many times before you really start giving it your all. You might need to hit rock bottom before you realize that you never want to let yourself anywhere near that place again.

Remember, with almost everything, the end may look glorious and easy, but how to get there is a whole other story, a story that we tend not to hear about. You may not know how long the story will be or how difficult it will be, but trust me, there’s a happy ending.

It’s a cliche saying but for good reason.

“Things will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

So please, keep your head high. Don’t hurt yourself or belittle yourself or give up on yourself. You’re gonna get through it and you’re gonna come out just fine.

You’re not a failure.