Speaking as a third-year transfer student, who has changed his major and university twice, I often find myself in a spiral of sorts. I think about the future, where my life is headed (both literally and metaphorically), who is going to be there with me, etc.

I often think about the people who became wildly successful without any college education, or perhaps not even a full high school education in some cases. Are they just special? Do they have a certain gift or totally random factor that people like me don't have?

However, I am three years in and I still have a lot of questions about my own life. What am I gonna do? Who am I gonna do it for? How am I gonna make it in this world? I still have a lot of worries. Will anyone hire me? Do I have enough experience? Will I even be good at what I choose to do? Sometimes it can seem like being a student, trying to create your own life, is like trying to build a Lego Star Wars spaceship without the instructions.

Many people say you have to make your own destiny; others say things happen as they are meant to. Some people believe that there is a higher power controlling every outcome in the universe; others believe it is nothing but pure chaos. The confusion about what to believe, and how what you believe will affect you and your future life can be a lot to think about; it can even be frightening at times.

A few people in my life who are wiser and much more experienced than I have always told me that "all you can do is the best and most that you can." That sentiment has stuck with me through the years of my college life because I find it to be true.

I am the only one who truly knows how much effort I put into each aspect of my work. But many professors and others like to think that they know as well, that they can see with some sort os special sense how much one stressed over a particular assignment, or how much work they put in. For example, if I make an error, one that may have affected my grade, I think about whether or not I did the best I could regardless of that. And if I did, I try not to be as disappointed in myself.

I think this mindset could potentially help a lot of people, especially ones that feel like they may be caught in a hopeless loop. "Believing in yourself" is obviously a huge cliche, but it's not about just believing in yourself. It's not about believing that you can do everything you set your mind to, because sometimes, you can't. And that's okay; there's a reason we have a word for failure, it's because everyone does it.

It's more about believing that you can recover from that failure, in one way or another. It's about believing that you have the ability to make everything work out for you, whether it's supposed to or not.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And it might be closer than you may think.