To the student who feels disappointed this year,

I get it. As you scroll through your news feed, you see posts from people that attended your high school excited that they made the Dean's List or maintained their college 4.0 GPA. You try to not be jealous or aggravated that they felt the need to post this all over social media and wonder if they are bragging just to get under your skin. They aren't, it's just you, but it's okay. You had a plan this year to make this past year your best year yet. You were going to be the one with bragging rights. This year the "grades conversation" with your parents was supposed to be followed by a celebration gift, not ending with your parents disappointed with you. This year you were supposed to be excited about your financial aid coming out because you may have qualified for more grants/scholarships; instead you are just hoping you didn't lose what you had. Maybe you tried your hardest this year and maybe you didn't try at all. At this point you feel like both look the same, failure.

So if you did your best, it almost hurts a little more. It wasn't like you didn't try. There were people in your classes that didn't try at all that did better than you. So you keep asking yourself, "why didn't the results match the effort?" The truth is, I don't know. For many, life happened. The world and others weren't kind to you this year. You may not have been kind to you this year. But now you need to be. This summer, you need to repair and love yourself. If you don't, you might have the same result next year. The hand that life has dealt you can't change; you can. This summer, you can focus on and learn how to handle stresses and how to change your habits for next year. And if you are graduating, well at least college is over with. Not to sound cliche, but at least now you are stronger because of the things that you have gone through. As for your parents, they may not understand, but they probably will. They will get over it. Remind them how this affects you more than it affects them. It is important for them to realize that the disappointment that you feel in yourself is more than they feel. You did your best and that is all you can do. You will be fine. Move on.

So if you didn't really try at all, you probably feel worse about yourself. You know that you didn't give it your best effort and you regret it. There are people that put in no effort that get A's, you aren't one of them. If you didn't know this yet, now you do. Your parents' wrath has come upon you and you can't really blame them. You screwed up. Your friends may have been the partiers that miraculously get a 4.0 even though they never try. If this is the case, either you need to gain self control and opt out when needed or you need new friends. College is for fun, but not at the expense of your career and your future. At least now you know what you can and cannot do. Maybe this year you were just unmotivated. You just could not find it in you to do your work. Either you just hated all of your courses or just didn't feel that it was worth your time. This summer you need to figure out why you do not think that you deserve success. Why do you not feel that your success is worth the effort?

No matter your case this summer, the year is over and you now have to decide what to do from here. How are you going to improve your study skills? What are your priorities? Do you like what you are studying? These are all questions to ask yourself. Take this summer to focus on you. Talk to your parents. Be open about what has held you back this year. Ask for their help. This school year may have seemed like a total bust, but if you take the summer to really reflect on it, it could be one of the most important years yet. There is so much to learn from failure. You now know what you are capable of and what you aren't. No matter what happens, know that you will be fine. Next year is a new year. By this time next year, you will forget how you feel right now. You made it through the year, and for this year, that is enough. Happy summer!