The night before finals. If you listen closely, you can hear the soft cries of fearful college students. Coffee shortages expand as far as the eye can see. People are studying in every crevice of the library, waiting to pounce at the opportunity of a freed table or chair. Reasons to procrastinate seem to flow freely, as you begin you realize that you have to deep clean your entire suite before tomorrow. As you drown in a sea of note cards and highlighters, you start to question “what jobs I could get with one semester of college education”? The prospects of being a trophy wife or sugar baby seem all to appealing…

This is a public service announcement to all college students: stop stressing. Stop worrying. Stop crying. Stop. Stop. Stop.

I know this may seem like it is the worst week. The lack of sleep and inadequate nutrition might be finally getting to your inner self. You feel as low as you can. But, my friends, this is not the end. Finals are minute compared to the grand scheme of life. You will not wake up one day and realize that the C you got on your philosophy final was the beginning of the end. You are worth much more than your grade.

I learned this early on as a child. In high school, I would rather take a bullet than anything lower than a B; I was the typical overachiever. For my Chemistry final, I got a C+. Acting like a typical 16 year old overacheiver, I was determined that this miniscule C was the end to my academic career. No good college. No dean’s list. My world would indefinitely go to shit. My dad, always hiding important lessons within strange riddles, said “Do you know what they call a guy who graduated with the lowest GPA in med school? Doctor”. As I got older, wiser, and less melodramatic, I realized that he was right. Even if I graduated last, I still made it. I still graduated.

So, to all my college students, struggling to find the light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel: You are worth more than your grade. Whether you get an A+ or an F-, you are still smart. You are still valuable. You still have so much to offer the world. You cannot let a standardized test dictate how you perceive yourself. You do not need an unobtainable grade controlling your life and your happiness. You need to focus on the things in life that really matter: memories, friendships, healthy spiritual growth, things that you will truly remember 10 years from now. Life is too short to let small things bring you down, when there is so much beauty to look forward to.

This is for you. Hope it helps.