If hurricane Irma hasn’t set your classes back too far, it’s about that time of the semester where students are approaching their midterms. In other words, our stress levels are through the roof. We begin to think we have so much to do, but not enough time to do it. On top of all that stress, we have other responsibilities outside of academics that begin piling up. Given all these responsibilities as a young adult, we tend to get a little lost in the reason why we do it all in the first place. It is very easy and also very normal to be so busy and not even think of the reasons why and just go-go-go all the time. Just in case you catch yourself in one of these moments ask yourself these three questions:

1. Why did you decide to come to college?

2. What do you want out of your college experience?

3. Are the activities that you are doing making you happy?

I easily forget and have to remind myself why I do what I do. Knowing these answers can help light that fire under you and keep you motivated. Having the drive to do what you do is a key factor in achieving success in college. Everyone has their own life plan and it is extremely important to keep up with your own. The university experience comes with many distractions from all the athletic events to the social life, there is always something going on. Don’t be afraid to participate in these events either. Yes, being stressed makes you feel that you cannot participate in anything other than your school work, but that is not always the case. Take advantage of some of these events to relieve your stress. When your university brings the puppies on campus to help you during finals, go pet them! Take a moment to talk to a friend or family member and tell them what is going on. Your colleagues are possibly experiencing the amount of pressure you are. Confide in them and ask them the same three questions. Knowing why we do what we do gives us the strength to keep going and to never quit.

Let us keep in mind that four years from now when we reminisce on our college experience, we never talk about how stressed we were before our biology test, or about how we may have fallen asleep during that one lecture. We talk about the conversations we have with our peers and the impacts they made on us. We talk about the people we meet along the way. We talk about all that we have experienced. College is about furthering our education, but it is also about growing in life. So don’t forget why you are here and more importantly, go take a moment for yourself and go make some memories!