As midterms roll around, it's easy to feel like you can't get a grip on anything. College isn't simply that cliche, "sleep, grades and social life: pick two"; it's more parallel to something like, "sleep, grades, social life, mental sanity, emotional stability, family, finances, being human: pick two and MAYBE you'll survive."

You've been on your feet since day one, trying to juggle what seems like an impossibly arduous balancing act. Going and going and going, with long hours often fueled by the fear of failure (go alliteration). But you know what?

Remember you're human. 

Remember that screw-ups are inevitable and that it doesn't make you any less of a future doctor, lawyer, teacher, whatever. If you talk to anyone in your desired profession today, they'll have an abundance of stories where they were in your shoes. At one point, they were just as clueless about their future as we sometimes feel about our own.

However at the end of it, perfection isn't what got them to where they are today. Self-motivation is. 

We all have the mental capacity to perform well on a standardized test, but not all of us have the motivation necessary to prepare well. And hence, what separates those who become X and those who become Y. As much as midterms suck and you're tired beyond any trace of sanity and all you want to do is say "screw it..." 

Don't. Keep going.

Because it's tough now and you may genuinely hate life when you're running on nothing, time flies by. It'll go by as you blink and you'll wonder where it went. You'll ultimately look back with gratitude for that time or regret for what you didn't do to reach those goals. Make this time worth it, because you only have it once. Get up an hour early to brush up before that quiz, take time to read before class.

That extra effort will be what you remember when you see that diploma hanging in your office. 

You don't need to be the 4.0 scholar/varsity athlete/Greek life Wonderwoman with Nobel prize-winning research and stellar eyebrows to make it to through. You need a faith, focus and determination that you, yourself, will not only survive it but conquer it. 

We're all made with a little insecurity, some intuition, and a whole lot of potential to do something great. Go get 'em tiger! 

And if anything, here's a meme of ya bae Ryan Gosling for motivation.