As Thanksgiving approaches, to many college students this means that finals week is right around the corner. Before we even have time to digest our turkey and pumpkin pie, or get back from black Friday shopping, stress will be at an all-time high. From writing red-bull and coffee fueled papers at 3AM, to cramming for cumulative final exams praying that we ride the curve to a passing grade. Sure, at the end of it all many of us will just be happy to pass, but then comes the hangover. For me and, as I soon learned, many others around me, that meant a period of self-doubt. A thought process along the lines of, “is this really what I want to be doing with my life?” or an impatient “When is what I have been working on for years finally going to pay off?” For the many feeling this way, it’s important to remember a few things.

First off, these are all completely natural and you are far from alone. Anyone who has ever claimed that they never doubted anything on their road to success is lying. There are always going to be doubts because there are no guarantees in life. But one thing is for sure, you should never doubt yourself. Give it everything you have, put your heart and soul into your work and if it does not yield success, then either try again or move on to something new. It’s important to live life without regrets, but if you don’t give 100% in everything you do, then I can promise you that you will wonder what could have happened if you had for the rest of your life.

Next, I would like to refer you to the title of the article: TRUST THE PROCESS. So many of us are fascinated and perhaps a bit jealous when we hear stories of “overnight success stories”. How many times have you heard something along these lines? “He performed on the Tonight Show and instantly became an overnight success.” This is by far, one of the biggest lies ever told. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Success does not happen overnight, it takes long hours, days, weeks, and years of hard work to get to that position. Fame may come overnight, but success is the result of years of hard work that sometimes culminates in one night.

That being said, it’s okay to be impatient when working towards turning your dreams into reality, but you have to use that impatience to your advantage. Let it motivate you to work hard, but remember that the world won’t come to you overnight. Dreams are made of success, success is made of goals, and goals are made of motivation, and motivation is made of a choice to be better than you were yesterday. So when you’re writing those papers late at night in a few weeks, wondering when it’ll finally pay off, just remember to trust yourself, and the process.