Everyone has either experienced it, or the possibility of it seems to looms like dark storm clouds, overhead: a really crappy semester. From my own experience, I can say that wallowing in self-pity will only make you feel worse, and make others question your work ethic.

As a college student, whose campus is nine to 10 hours away from home, it is not as if my parents come and visit me often. Thus, it is difficult, if not impossible, to stress how I study or prepare for classes, leaving us students all alone while we attempt to explain why we've failed. Failure, for the record, is something that each and every one of us will experience in life. Though, it is what's done after said failure that really matters.

Now, after the initial failure, you're bound to feel in the dumps. That is totally natural. After all, you've invested hours upon hours of study time to pass your classes. However, I advise you to set what I call, a "pity-party limit," dictating how long you have to wallow in despair. Once that window is over, you must rise like a phoenix. Or, in the wise words of Kennedy Davenport: "After a long night of hooking, trade didn’t like the session so he had gutted me.. and set me on fire.. but I didn’t die.. b***h, I crystalized… and now I’m a Glamazon b***, ready for the runway." Girl, you better get up and slay.

Coming to terms with your failure is probably the most difficult task. It is, as I like to call it, the "re-evaluate phase," which entails contemplation, introspection and accepting certain truths about yourself. I say that this is the hardest phase because it forces you to dig deep and decipher what messages are being sent from your soul. Now, I'm not really one for new-age spirituality, but as Selena Gomez says: "The heart wants what it wants. Listen to it."

Everyone is always quick to tell me to do what I really love, because then it won't feel like work. However, at times, I seem to be surrounded by influences whose voices contradict that sentiment. If I have learned one thing above all else, it has to be to follow your heart because no matter how many times you fail, you have got to get back up again, and show the world that you are meant for something greater than yourself.