As I've gone through my college years thus far, I've realized that it is both the best, yet worst times of my life. College is great for the liberation, the new friends you meet, and ability to make further steps in your path of life. These perks also come with many nights of breaking down from stress, questioning what you're doing with your life, and wondering if you'll make it and if it will all be worth it in the end.

We've all felt hopeless, lost, and overwhelmed at many points throughout our college careers.

I know I've personally experienced this feeling, especially this year. I feel myself trying to make something out of myself, figure my life out, along with thousands of other things.

Here's the thing:

You need to keep going. Follow Dory's saying: "Just keep swimming." I know that right now is probably one of the most challenging times in your life. You aren't considered to be a child, yet you are not really an adult. The thing is: you will never get out of this no man's land unless you just keep going, one day at a time. Right now, it's all we can do.

You are where you're supposed to be. Go back to the lyrics: "I don't want to be anything other than me." I know; a lot of the times you feel like you are taking every path but the right one. Guess what? Sometimes you will be on the wrong path. The important thing to learn is to not constantly regret and dwell over this. It doesn't change anything. In fact, it's the worst thing you can do. Where you are at this exact moment is where you're supposed to be because that is the path that will lead you to the rest of your life. What you're going through right now is a time of growth, even though it might just feel like a time of strife and failure.

Stop being so hard on yourself. I know college is hard. We are expected to carry the world on our shoulders, all while looking completely sane doing it, but we are just humans. Stop beating yourself up over not always being able to get everything done, earning the perfect grades, or being the best in anything you try. You can't succeed at everything you do in life, you have to have failure. Failure isn't always our enemy, sometimes we fail so we learn what we did wrong, we learn how to fix it and move on. Life is just a learning curve. Go with it. Learn from it. Don't fight it, because it will win.

You aren't supposed to have your life figured out. You're 20, or in your early 20s. Society tells and expects us to have every aspect of our lives figured out, but that's absolute rubbish!! Realistically, I don't think anyone at our age has every aspect of their lives completely understood and figured out, and anyone that says they do is probably lying. You may have an idea of what you want every aspect of your life to be and look like, but plans change. Mine sure did. It took me a long time to realize: this is OKAY! We can't all receive 4.0 GPA, have a six-figure job lined up after college, and be engaged at 26. This isn't how life works. If you do have the straight and narrow path like this, that's great, but it's fine if you don't. Just learn from your mistakes. Things will work themselves out in the end. Someone once said to me that college is all about adjusting to the maladjustments. Now, you can beat yourself up over the maladjustments, or you can accept that the missteps make life exciting. gives us something to look forward to, and makes the achievements in life so much more rewarding.

Being in college is one of the largest four years of your life. A lot of people will say that it is the best time of your life, but you know what? For many people, IT'S NOT. This being said, one day, things will come together, you'll figure out what job you want, and where you want to live. For now, keeping striving to be the person you already are. Grow from challenges and adversities, and never forget to just keep swimming.