Finals are coming up, projects are due and papers are being written until 4 a.m. On top of that, you're registering for classes, going to work and more.

Your stress level may be at its peak. I know mine was.

After telling a good friend of mine how stressed I was, he asked me, "Do you have a set of quotes or rules that you have written down for yourself? You know, ones that you hold true to yourself?"

I thought about it for a couple minutes. I'm a writer so, of course, I have quotes everywhere: on my mirror, in my notebooks and on my walls.

But then I started truly thinking about it. Are there ones I completely 100 percent live by every day? Especially as a 20-year-old?

Ones to remind myself to be who I am and remain grounded when I feel it's impossible? Ones to remind me that this is the time to be free and explore?

We all get stressed. It's human nature. We are human beings. We get caught up, say yes to too many things, take on too many jobs. We stress, especially when we have 50 million things floating around in our minds during a hectic week.

Sometimes we get so busy and so wrapped around our anxieties of the week that we forget what we are truly here for.

It was when my friend asked me this question that I thought to myself that some of my anxieties occur because I want to solve everything right away.

I never want things lingering when I know I can solve them. The problem is we can not solve everything. I wish we could, but we can't. It's impossible.

So after a long week of crying and anger, I sat down and wrote some out.

I have now vowed to read them at least once a week. This way, once a week, I will be reminded of who I am, what I believe, what my goals are and to never forget that.

1. Being your true self is the most effective formula there is for success.

2. Like wildflowers, you must allow yourself to grow in all the places people thought you never would.

3. Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and think of what could go right.

4. Darling, just own it. (My personal favorite.)

5. Admire more. Most people don't admire enough.

6. It's okay to be scared. Being scared means you're about to do something really, really brave.

7. Don't feel stupid if you don't like what everyone else pretends to love.

8. Stay close to anything that makes you feel grateful to be alive.

9. Always think of the beauty still left around you.

10. There is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything.

11. The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.

12. Never love anyone that treats you like you're ordinary.

I think there are times where we are so occupied with things we forget to focus on ourselves, we forget to be who we are meant to be, and we forget to do the things that are most important to us.

So make a list of things you can control.

You can control how you treat yourself, how you treat others. You can control your outlook on life. You can control what you do with it. You get to decide your life. As much as I forget that, we need to try to remember it.