Failure. One of the things that we college students fear the most when it comes to our academic careers. But the way failure is viewed nowadays has us believing that we are not good enough, never will be good enough, and that we will never be successful. College is a time where it is okay to make mistakes. No one's journey is straight and narrow like we all love to believe. There are unexpected twists and turns that seem to come out of nowhere. We just have to remember that...

Thomas Edison said "I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Success does not come from success. In order to get there you have to put in effort. Sometimes things are going to work, and other times, like in Edison's case, you are going to have to try a lot more than once or twice. That is the beauty of failure... Everytime you do, you get the opportunity to learn something.

Everytime something doesn't work the first time, you have to go back to the beginning. Solve the puzzle. But if you are going to solve it the same way as before, you are going to end up in the same position. Now it is time to pick a different strategy. The best example is failing a test. If you do nothing to change your study strategy/habits you are never going to improve your score. Learn from past experiences and adjust your approach.

The best news to come out of all of this? Dreams don't have an expiration date. You can be in your 20's, 30's, 40's and so on, and still reach your goals. Sometimes it's frustrating, but success takes time. Don't get hung up on the little details in between it all. One day you will get there! And the view from the top is going to be amazing!

All the bumps and bruises that you get along the way will only make you stronger. Sometimes everyone sees them and sometimes only you do. That is why you can't compare yourself to someone else. All of our journey's are different. They lead us down unexpected paths. Just know that everything that happens is going to make you a stronger person.

Remember the Thomas Edison quote from earlier? He was persistent. Failure doesn't determine whether or not you will be successful. Belief that you can succeed is just as important as any other part of your journey. If you doubt yourself then that belief begins to falter. And that will be more detrimental to your success that any failure will ever be.

Last but not least, remember that every time you fail you are learning something. Most of us are afraid to fail because we are scared of what others will think of us. Remember that every time something goes wrong that something is a valuable lesson, and that other person you are worried about is missing out on that lesson.

Whatever your dreams and aspirations are, you can get there. But you can't be afraid to stumble along the way. Success is born from failure.