Fall 2017 has commenced and, if you're like me, you're dreading it.

You're dreading it because you already know some of the craziness you're gong to have to deal with.

You're dreading it because the first week was an absolute disaster and the world feels like it's falling apart on you and wants you to quit.

Believe me, I've been there. I'm currently there. This week, it's already rained on me, my tire has almost blown out and had to be replaced, my husband's car started overheating again, and the amount of driving I will have to do this semester makes last semester look like a walk in the park.

After finishing last year, my first of two years of my "professional semesters," I feel like I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the opening week of classes. I already know the crap that the program I'm in may dish out, and it makes me tired just thinking about it.

But, I reread Khalil Gibran's The Prophet and found some truth that spoke life into me:

"For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine."

So stay positive (I'm talking to myself here, too).

Don't let your frustration make you bitter about your intended job before you even get it. That's what the enemy wants.

Don't give up.

If you're in the last year or two of your degree, you're almost there! "It's always darkest before the dawn" is an applicable saying here.

If you've gotten this far already, you have a purpose in life. You have some drive.

You owe it to yourself to see it through.

You owe it to the people who told you couldn't do it.

You owe it to that big ugly storm that tried, multiple times, to stop you, to drown you in discouragement and smother out the light, if for no other reason than to give it a giant finger.

When you feel like throwing your hands up and walking away, know that you're so irritated because you truly care. Khalil Gibran in The Prophet wrote, "When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."

It is normal to get frustrated.

But know this: your worth is not derived from how well your bitter professor received your assignment. Your worth is not found in the girl who, one minute said you were her best friend and the next can't even be bothered to speak, or any other young adult drama that can be found playing out on college campuses everywhere.

Your worth is found in so much more than that.

And one day, you'll look back and barely remember what you learned. This is just one more step and you're almost finished with it.

You've got this.