College is freaking hard. It's like hitting a brick wall full speed and instead of stopping you just keep going into the next brick wall (pleasant, right?). And while you always know that there will be someone better than you, in high school, it never seemed like there was that many people better than you-- but in college, the amount of people better than you is painfully high. And yes, I know, everyone is special in their own way blah blah blah, but the reality is, we might have all gotten participation trophies in elementary school, but those days are long gone now that we're older. Now, we're all competing against each other, and it didn't take me long to realize that right now, I am nothing but average, especially this semester. I have never felt so average in my entire life.

I was talking to an old high school friend of mine this past week and he told me something so important. He asked me how my semester was going and I was brutally honest with him, telling him that I didn't feel like I will ever succeed in life because I look around and see so many more people seemingly doing so much better than me. He told me that it's important to feel average, so you can dig deep down and realize your full potential to make yourself not be average anymore.

And when you really think about it, we're all average right now. We wouldn't be going to college if we already knew everything. So many people go into college thinking that they have to understand all of their classes right away and be advanced in whatever major their is. But honestly, you're just starting to learn all of this new information you know nothing about; to a point you're supposed to feel lost. What separates us between average and above average is the people who take that feeling of being lost and push through to understand.

I had never looked at me struggling in this sort of way before. And honestly, it might seem like everyone else around you is succeeding, but everyone has had at least one time in their college careers where they just feel average compared to everyone else. Instead of hating these times, we need to embrace these struggles and realize that that one rough class that you're barely holding onto passing is making you a better person and carrying you one step forward to being the best person you can be.

Honestly, we all need to be knocked down a few pegs once in a while. this world is way too full with millennials feeling like they know everything. Learning rejection and failure is an important part of growing up. And trust me, I know exactly what it feels like when it happens. You get that awful pit in your stomach and your throat starts to burn because you're so upset, but you know that you can't say or do anything about it except let yourself cry about it for 10 minutes, wash your face, pick yourself up and move on and learn from the failure. And oh, there will be so many failures--and I learned this the hard way. When I went to college, I wanted to get A's on every single assignment and test I ever had. But I learned the hard way that even if I study for a test for months, I can still end up only getting a C, and that's okay.

And in those days you feel average, you feel like it will go on forever, but if you keep working hard, there will be a breakthrough. Being average is only temporary as long as you make it temporary. It makes me realize the things that I'm good at, and the things that I'm not. And while nobody likes having their faults pointed out, it pushes me to change myself so they aren't faults anymore. While I used to hate being average, now I embrace it. I know that I'm not the best yet, but I plan to be, no matter how long it takes me to get there.

So work hard, stay humble and keep moving forward. One day you will feel above average, because you truly will be.