It's that time of year again. You know what I'm talking about. We're in that awkward space nestled between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's supposed to be cheerful, because we're smack-dab in the middle of the holiday season with two nice, long breaks on either side of us. We don our ugly Christmas and Hanukkah sweaters and wear flashy holiday socks. We savor peppermint-flavored drinks and desserts alike, and we decorate our houses to look festive. Charlie Brown comes on ABC. We host parties and small get-togethers and exchange presents and remind each other that we are loved.

It's the best time of year, but it's also the worst. Because, beneath all the cheer, we fret. Between building each other up, we break down. We all know that our lives, during all parts of the year, are often dictated by stress and fear for the future. But now that it's almost the end of the year, the end of the semester and the end of the final quarter. Deadlines are pressed up against our faces like thick windowpanes, and it becomes so much harder to breathe.

As a high school junior, I'm definitely feeling the stress. Rather unwittingly, I'd chosen to take all seven of my classes instead of opting out of one. My grades aren't nearly as high as I'd like them, and they are most definitely lower than what they used to be. While I can go ahead and give what I think are legitimate reasons to explain my under-performance, the fact of the matter is, at the end of the day, they're numbers under my name, and they're going to be put on my transcript at the end of this year. Unless I'm comfortable with damaging my GPA, it's about time for me to work my butt off and salvage anything and everything I can.

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who can relate with my desire to play damage-control this late into the year or possibly just take the extra step to nudge their numbers ever-much the higher. It's tiring and stressful, being so close to the end and being satisfied.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly stressed, I can't help but wonder at the worst possible scenario if I were to fail all my finals and all my classes. My biggest fear is the idea of failure and the realization that I'm not enough. But this is only an idea. I always find that it helps to face my fears head-on and truly evaluate the sheer extent of damage I'd be wrecking on my future.

In the case I miserably fail all my finals and subsequently fail all my classes, I'd be faced with three options: retake junior year, get a GED, or dropout.

I am 17, after all. Personally, I immediately rule out the last option. I still want my GED. But there are careers you can pursue without a GED, such as working in the service industry as a waiter or a bartender. Or if you're more modern and unconventional, you could strive to become an internet personality. Emma Chamberlain, for example, is a high school dropout herself and more successful than some of us can ever hope to be. And if you decide to get your GED later in life, night school is a thing.

Not that I advocate for it, but dropping out of high school would not mean the end of success in life. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find any singular event that would ban you from achieving success in life, despite what your counselors and parents tell you.

Assuming I go with the first or second option (because the third is downright humiliating), life would go on. I'd get my GED. If I decide to pursue something that doesn't require traditional college, like beauty school, my low GPA would be fine. If I decide to pursue something that requires a bachelor's degree, then I'd go to community college. But let's be real — in this day and age, if I want to be competitive in a field, I'm going to need a master's degree.

According to most, if one is still looking for that prestigious college, it would be better to get the master's degree from a prestigious college and a bachelor's from a no-name college rather than the other way around. And for post-graduate schooling, they don't even care about your high school GPA.

So essentially, life goes on. You can still become CEO of some major company, given you put in more effort. The idea that my life won't be solely dictated by my high school GPA alone is more reassuring than I can verbally profess, so I'll leave it at this. Failing all your finals won't be the end of your world if you don't want it to be. Obviously, it's better to do well in the first place, but if you're convinced that you can't, don't go into cardiac arrest.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that your path to success ends with high school failure, because it won't.