It's coming and it's inevitable. The dreaded month of midterms. It's something most of us don't want to experience. Why? Because a simple ink on paper, letter or number, can either crush us or help us.

That's not true at all. I don't want to be the one to say that your grades don't define you, but it is what it is: Your grades don't make you, you.

So, what do you do when you don't end up getting the score you wanted? or expected? or needed? You need to progress. There is no time to sulk. As hard as it seems, you can get through it. Use that valuable time and make it an advantage. Start 'training' so that you can be better.

You cannot thrive with a negative mindset. If you only view this world in a bad light, you will only be met with a bad light above shining upon you. However, there is a difference between only seeing the bad and seeing the bad but also understanding the possibility of something better, of becoming something better. You must be that positive motiving force. The world will meet you with all sorts of outcomes, good or bad, but rise above it and you will be met with beautiful experiences.

That ideal lifestyle you have envisioned for yourself in your dreams will become impossible if you’re not able to understand the process. With success comes sacrifice and with sacrifice comes pain. If you do not allow yourself to undergo the difficult times, you will never be able to make it to where you wish to be. There is no detour, there is no easy route. When you are challenged, you are exercising your resilience and this will prepare you for all that is yet to come.

There is beauty in the struggle.

I know it may sound a bit off, but somewhere between the doubt, the pain, the anger, and all the stress, there is a resolution, understanding, growth, and tranquility. Be patient with your journey. Just because you've encountered a bump in the road, doesn't make it your final destination. There are ways around it and sometimes you may even have to face it head on. Nonetheless, you're here. You're existing. You have the capability to be something great, to do something great.

Don’t lose the faith, friend.