Imperfection runs rampant across the world. In fact, it is so contagious that not a single person is immune or unaffected. We all have our own little messes or storms we're battling and strategies to deal with them—even if those strategies are really just telling ourselves everything is fine and deny deny deny.

Whether you are struggling with grades, feeling like you're drowning in work or dealing with complicated relationships, it helps if you look at life's messes and challenges as opportunities to learn and grow instead of ways to beat you down. We learn more about ourselves when faced with obstacles and when we're forced to confront our comfort zones.

When you're barely keeping your head above water at work or school, what does your response to the stress and pressure say about you? When relationships that you thought you would have in your life for a long time start to unravel, and that feeling of falling apart bleeds into other parts of your life, what do you do?

I really gravitate toward making lists. Whether its on Post-its or scrap paper, organizing my thoughts into bite size chunks helps make my busy schedule seem more manageable. I am very familiar with the feelings of panic and

anxiety caused by each additional due date and deadline.

Each assignment you add to your calendar can feel like a brick and they all just keep adding up until all you can see is a wall of bricks. I don't always stick to my lists down to each bullet but they do help me feel more in control and less like my life is a hot mess.

For me organization and time management are the biggest obstacles keeping me from a mess-free life but I recognize that each person has their own metaphorical brick walls to overcome. I've learned from experience that sitting alone (likely in bed at night when your brain won't sleep) thinking about all the things you could've done better or still need to get done, or why your such a mess and can't get your life together, is a destructive strategy that won't do anything productive for you.

Instead embrace the fact that you're not perfect. You'e human, you make mistakes, mismanage time, feel discouraged and cry from time to time. I, someone who admits their life more often than not resembles the aftermath of a tornado, am giving you permission to take your flaws, your mistakes, your obstacles—all the things that make life messy—and accept them.

Learn to embrace your imperfections and use them. Use them to get to know yourself better, as proof that you're imperfect and human and worthy of love and happiness. Don't lie to yourself and pretend you are something you're not.

You're a mess. You're not perfect. Your life is a mini hurricane and that's okay. You can take life by the horns without taking it all on at once. Deal with the horns first, then figure out how you want to tackle the rest. And if you're ever in need of a reminder...you aren't alone in your storm, there are a lot of people out there willing to throw you a life vest.