2015 has been a pretty rough year for me. However, I learned a very valuable life lesson. Failure. That moment when all your hopes and dreams come crashing down and it seems everything’s going wrong.

You know how when you graduate high school, you feel on top of the world? Like you’re ready to take on anything and everything? That’s how I felt. I graduated at the top of my class, got accepted into an incredible school. I vowed to myself that I’d ace my classes and make my parents and myself proud. I was going to flourish.

And that was when the struggle began. Students dream about being accepted to a top-tier schools. I was one of them. Yet, what they don’t realize is that everyone will be just as good as you are, if not better. In my case, everyone was better. I was ironically accepted into a very selective major, with just fifty other students.

All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed. This never happened to me in high school. My first all-nighter consisted of completing a five-page English paper, attempting to program Solitaire, and trying to study for a Calculus exam. My classes immediately took a toll on my health. I wasn’t sleeping well. I didn’t enjoy my classes at all. I was at the point where I showed up to a lecture and didn’t bother taking notes. It wasn’t helping that the Freshman 15 turned into the Freshman 20. I didn’t go out at all -- my social life was dead.

I had a breakdown over spring break when I went home and saw my mid semester grades. I couldn’t take it anymore. I dreaded going back to school, just to go back to the same old routine. Finals that semester destroyed me. I had failed my first college class. My dreams of becoming successful were shattered, and I truly questioned whether I belonged in this school.

That summer involved a lot of thinking. I got a job, like any other college students, and started researching potential careers. I changed my major, and registered for a variety of courses. This time, I promised myself I would not only focus on my classes, but I’d have fun.

But slowly, I started finding things I was good at. I loved my accounting class. I realized I work well with numbers. My economics class was intriguing. Sure, I still have a few difficult classes, and I may not have done too well on a few quizzes, but I am not at the point where I have breakdowns. Freshman year is about finding yourself. We all have far fetched goals and dreams as we enter college. But the reality of it is different. At the end, I discovered that failures just happen to nudge you in the right direction. And you know what? I’m still flourishing.