Are you a monster when you're stressed out? When you're tired do you seem to just yell at people? When you're happy do you become the actual definition of pleasant? Do people avoid you when you're "in a mood" or do they love being around you? It all as to do with how you present yourself. I don't mean how you dress or the length of the words you say. I mean that your attitude, demeanor and overall vibe determine how the world reacts to you. The way people perceive you is literally all in your head.

This time of year is a nightmare for everyone from professors, graduate students, seniors on their way out to undergraduates just trying to make it to summer. We are buried in a mountain of studying. We are fueling our bodies with Cheetos and caffeine. We count ourselves lucky if we sleep more than two hours a night and at the end of the week we will never be satisfied with our grades, GPA, or effort. Doesn't it seem like there is something very wrong with that? Why after a week or even two of non-stop studying and self-neglect can we not just be happy with the outcomes? There are probably tons of studies on why students struggle to feel good about their achievements and they're probably all rooted in sad psychological stuff with a lot of big words and ideas that we would hate ourselves even more for not knowing, but truthfully no one needs those studies or reports to know that it's an issue. So what can we do about it ourselves?

This might blow your mind but the solution is pretty simple. We should be striving to maintain a positive mindset. I don't mean we should all be overly optimistic but certainly we should not be too pessimistic either. Changing your mindset is not easy. We, as frazzled college students or stressed out humans in general, have come to know as fact that bad things happen even when you work hard to avoid them. We get less than satisfactory grades and we catch all the red lights the one morning we are running late. It happens to the best of us. The difference is though, that the perceived "best" of us don't let it bring them down.

We all have people in our lives we see as perfect. Maybe they have effortless style or they always get the best grades while still having a social life. Maybe they always seem happy or at least content despite all the shortcomings you know they've experienced. You're probably a little jealous of these people and I am too! Recently, however, I think I've found their secret and it's a positive mindset.

How much easier is it to study for five straight hours when you believe that it will make a difference on your final? How much more fun is it to put on random clothes to see if they match and when they kind of do to just wear them? I mean who cares if you're wearing long sleeves with shorts because when you're feelin' yourself nobody is going to care that it's actually 50 degrees out and your outfit doesn't make sense. And how awesome does it feel when you're the bigger person? It's never a bad feeling when you can pat yourself on the back for handling a tough situation with poise and rationality. However, more importantly than any of this is how we react to the little things.

In my all knowing young-adult too sure of herself opinion, a positive mindset is best achieved when we focus on the little stuff. Before you let your good mood spiral into oblivion try thinking about the situation for a few seconds. Is it hurting you? Will it matter in five minutes or tomorrow? Is there a reason this happened and can you avoid it next time. Will it cost you more energy to worry about it than to let it go? Is there a bright-side? That's my favorite. I always look for the bright-side of things and it has helped me grow into a person I'm happy to be. Negativity still gets in and it is unrealistic to think that I'll never have a bad day but for me finding the silver-lining helps in most situations.

For example, I am 100 percent sure the universe is out to get me when it comes to cars. In about four years of having a license I have had four cars and I can't count the number of times I've been to a junkyard to find the cheapest parts possible for whatever went wrong that time. My favorite incident involving my luck with cars was when I had a minor collision coming back from spring break at dusk. While waiting for the officer to submit the report my car battery actually died from leaving the hazard lights on. This was right off the interstate so naturally the officer had to call a wrecker because apparently they aren't allowed to jump cars. When the wrecker came I asked him to jump my car and he said yes! Keep in mind, the least convenient thing on the planet is to stop and jump someone's car, especially when your vehicle is four times the size and you aren't even sure where the battery in it is. So there was my bright-side. A guy who could have hauled my precious car away and cost me a ton of money I didn't have, decided to be genuinely kind and make my night immensely better than it could've been.

So the moral of the story is that next time someone cuts you in line, you're late to work because you couldn't pass a bicycle, you had to do homework instead of sleep, your hair doesn't cooperate, your crush doesn't text you back, or your best friend goes to a party without you, try to look on the bright-side. I promise it'll make you feel at least a little better. But then again, what do I know? I'm just random college gal living a life I wouldn't trade for the world.