Hey Kid,

I won't ask if you're OK, because I know your answer is going to be something like "no," "I'm dead," or you might possibly even decide you don't have the amount of energy required to voice a response.

But listen up: Chin up.

I know this 30-page paper with a 20-page annotated bibliography (Professor, you suck) due on the same day as that Constitutional Law final (those 100 court cases can go die) literally seems like the end of the world. But they're not. I promise.

You've always been ok, and you will continue to be OK.

Remember when you thought you were going to fail your freshman GE because you skipped too many Friday 8 a.m. classes and didn't realize your TA was taking attendance? Or when you for sure thought that D+ on your Econ exam was God telling you to drop out of school and move back in with Mom and Dad? Or especially that one time when you remembered your chem lab was due at 9 a.m. the next morning, but you were drunk at the 9-0 and had zero chance of being sober before the deadline, let alone write a full lab report (and the pre-lab)?

Well, you made it work then, and you're going to make it work now.

Crank out the work, stick your nose in your text books, and forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for not studying more; forgive yourself for not starting your papers earlier and for not outlining each chapter you never read; forgive yourself for going to those parties and for staying up too late eating Mac & Cheese watching Sex and the City with your roommates - all instead of studying. There's nothing you can do to change the past and to make 'crunch time' any easier, so let it go. Focus on the now and on what you can do to give yourself the best outcome moving forward.

Focus on what you will do, not what you didn't do.

On the upside, you'll never regret those parties or those nights with your roomies. You also won't regret studying your ass off and working towards academic excellence. Ever.

But you will regret slacking off, and you will regret not giving it your honest, best effort. College seems so much easier when you're on the other side, diplomas in hand, realizing the lack of responsibility you had, overwhelmed by the 'real world' sitting before you, demanding to be dealt with.

Enjoy this. Enjoy your most important task: to learn. Outside the realm of institutionalized education, learning is merely expected, not rewarded. You don't understand how lovely this life of studying is until it's gone. Enjoy every last moment, and try your best to soak it in; it'll be rushed away before you're even able to recognize its value.

As a former fling of mine used to say, "You get to wake up and take a test at one of the best universities in the world. And isn't that amazing?" While he may not have been right for me, those words are. So take it on with courage, with valor, with unending hard work, and - most importantly - with pride. You're lucky to tackle these challenges and to learn at such a renowned university. And don't you forget it.

So work for the A, and settle for the B (or the C) when you absolutely need to. Spend most of the night in Doheny Library buried in the book stacks, but make sure you hustle home at 2 a.m., and get some much-needed sleep. Drink all the coffee and plow through your papers and flash cards as quickly and as accurately as you can. Log out of Facebook and turn your phone off - but make sure you text mom first and let her know why your messages will be green, not blue. You know how she worries. Don't forget to edit that creative writing portfolio for homophones, and double check role v. roll, one last time.

And above all: smile.

This too shall pass. Do your best to be flexible and fluid with the constantly changing challenges that are continually thrusted upon you. You'll undoubtedly miss this - all of this.

Go get em, tiger.