Academics had never been something I struggled with. From elementary school, all the way through my first years of college, studying always seemed to come naturally to me. That is not to say that I never had to work hard for a grade. But there was never a moment where I feared I wouldn't pass a class.

This past semester, that changed.

I took the hardest class of my college career this semester. It was one of those classes that eats up all of your free time. I can't count the number of times I've canceled or pushed back plans on people because I was too busy working on the latest project for that class.

The class was treated like a job and it felt like one. I was constantly out doing interviews, doing research, writing articles, and coming up with new story ideas. And I know that if this was the one thing I had to focus on, I would have enjoyed the class, but I had four other classes to deal with and the stress piled up very quickly.

But that doesn't even include how badly I was doing in the class. Every time I turned in something thinking it was great work, I got moderate to terrible grades on the assignment. My professor always seemed to find something to nitpick. He also wasn't the greatest at giving instructions, so the rest of the class and I were often left confused and stressed about what we had to do for each assignment.

About halfway through the semester, I missed a huge assignment. The assignment was to write a profile on someone. The person that agreed to be profiled suddenly stopped responding to my emails and phone calls. This was only a week before it was due, and though I tried to get a backup person during that week, no one responded to me.

After this blow, I was convinced I would be able to turn things around. I was wrong. The end of the semester hit me like a train. The profile story kept getting pushed farther and farther back until it had been almost a month after the deadline and I still didn't have anything turned in. And I was bombing other assignments.

I decided not to get my hopes up about anything I wrote because I would just get bad grades on them anyway. This became a self-fulfilling prophecy, since I tried less, which made my grades lower.

A few weeks before the semester ended, I was teetering on the edge of a passing grade, convinced I wouldn't be able to make it. My professor even called me out in front of the entire class one day, letting everyone know that I had dug myself into a hole that I might not be able to get out of.

I left the classroom that day sobbing, but also with a newfound determination. I decided, then and there, I would stop feeling sorry for myself and try my hardest to pass.

There are four different things that got me through the rest of the class:

First, it was communication. I emailed my professor a lot throughout the semester, constantly updating him on the status of my projects, so if I wasn't able to turn something in, he knew exactly why. (In journalism classes, this happens because sometimes your most important source doesn't get back to you by the deadline.)

Also, I communicated with the rest of the class through our group chat, making sure I knew exactly what to do for an assignment and when that assignment was due.

Second, I had to accept help. Before, I was embarrassed about asking for help because I was convinced that everyone was doing so much better than me and that I was the inferior student in the class.

But I wasn't giving my classmates enough credit. A lot of them were just as stressed and confused as me. So I decided to ask for help when I really needed it and to accept help when an opportunity was presented to me.

A friend from the class actually helped to save my grade by introducing me to someone to profile, allowing me to finally get some points back on that late assignment. Those points proved crucial in the final calculation of my grade. If he hadn't been nice enough to help me and if I hadn't accepted his help, I probably wouldn't have passed.

Third, it was that I had to work my butt off. When the last few weeks of the semester set in, you want to give up. But I kicked everything into high gear, perfecting the last few assignments for the class, getting points back wherever possible, and studying like crazy for the final.

If I had stayed in my puddle of guilt, depression, and hopelessness, it would have been much harder to find the motivation to finish the semester strong. Every single assignment, whether five points or 100, can be incredibly important when you're on the edge of not passing.

Lastly, I had to plan for the worst. I decided to make a plan for a future where I didn't pass the class and had to retake it. Rationalizing it in my mind and planning ahead helped me to realize that it wasn't that big of a deal. Rather than seeing retaking this class as this awful nightmare that I would have to relive, I saw it as an opportunity to do better and to build up my portfolio even more.

In the end, I did pass the class. Yes, I barely scraped by, but it still taught me some immensely important life lessons. So remember, even if it seems like you're not going to pass a class, you need to fight like hell because only you can fix your own messes.