Stage 1: Motivated

"You've got this!" That is the main sentence keeping you going through the start of your semester. You planned ahead, with a plethora of colored highlighters, a print out of your way too busy schedule and you even splurged and got a planner to keep track of, well, everything. You're ready to conquer this semester, even though you don't quite know why you picked the hardest classes possible. As long as you stay motivated and organized you'll be fine! Right?

Stage 2: Should I drop this class?

You begin to question your motive behind taking an economics class when your major is as far from business as possible. You dabble back and forth about emailing your adviser and dropping the class that's so long your coffee goes cold. You're scrambling to gather your pros and cons list of whether or not the class is worth the struggle. This stage generally involves many cups of coffee and many calls to mom/dad on how to word your emails to your professor on why you're dropping the class.

Stage 3: Mental Breakdown

You have to hit your lowest to reach your highest, right? Mental breakdowns are the enemy of every college student. It's like a waiting game, the anticipation is real and they always hit at the worst possible time. Oh, you're in the middle of the library trying to finish a project at 12 a.m.? BAM! Let the mental breakdown begin.

Stage 4: Denial

You don't have time for this mental breakdown. It can't possibly be happening and you just need to pull yourself together and move forward. You pretend like everything is dandy and your grades will just magically be whatever they are without you needing to put in the work and have another mental breakdown. Giving up is an option right?

Stage 5: Acceptance

College is hard. No matter where you attend, or what major you take. Once you accept that you can't control everything, that's when you begin to grow. You accept that sometimes you'll need to have mental breakdowns to get to a stable and high point in your life. You accept that you won't always be the best at everything, and that's OK. You understand that you need to take things day by day and even if they don't turn out exactly as you planned, you are exactly where you are supposed to be.