This may not come as a surprise to anyone: But school is stressful. College is stressful. Sometimes high school is stressful. Although high school was never stressful for me unless it had anything to do with my extracurricular activities. I've never been the greatest at managing stress. Those moments I was rushing to finish projects for yearbook and photography that just weren't working were the moments I was most stressed—or in my AP classes, those caused me a lot of stress, too. I had a lot of pressure put on me from the adults in my life to do well, get straight A's or B's, and don't even think of getting a C.

It wasn't until college that I realized how high my stress levels can get in all its glory. My parents and I have argued quite a few times, as well, over my grades. I've gotten a few D's and C's...things I've never done before. But in high school (or at least the one I went to) they just hand you the grades. They don't prepare you for anything. The hard work, the sleepless nights, the insane amounts of studying that need to be done. They don't teach you study habits that work or that there's a different study technique for everyone. They don't teach you how to manage stress. These are things i had to learn all on my own.

And, ultimately, I've fallen down many times because of it.

I transferred from community college, which also treated me like I was in high school, to university. I failed two classes my first semester—both D's. I retook those classes my second semester and passed. My third semester I passed all my classes.

But this semester has once again knocked me down. I failed two classes. One class was a class that's not required, essentially, because it's the first of the classes I've taken for a certain minor and there are plenty of classes to make up for it. But it still looks bad that I got a bad mark, and it brings my GPA down. I also failed a class that is, in fact, required—general chemistry. I'm terrible at math, and math-based sciences. I was starting to understand chemistry, slowly, as the semester passed. But not quickly enough. The semester was over and finished by the time I was finally grasping certain concepts, and it was already too late to save my grade.

Someone asked me what this meant yesterday. If it meant I was going to give up because I failed. It didn't take me long to think about it. I told them no.

Why?

Because grades don't matter. Sure, graduate schools are going to look at your grades—employers might look at your grades. But that isn't what defines you. A letter on a piece of paper doesn't define your understanding of a concept or how well you can do your job in the future. I constantly remind myself that, even if it takes me multiple times to pass a class, I will continue to do so. Because I'm determined. And maybe someone, somewhere, when they look at my grades and transcripts will see that I was determined. That I kept trying. That a few pushes wouldn't keep me knocked down permanently.

So I hope if you read this, you can keep that little fact in mind, too. Determination shows a hard-worker. And if you love what you do—even if it concerns schooling—you should never give up your dreams. If money gets in the way, always know that you have time. You can return to your dreams. Never put them on the back-burner completely. You may have to take a pause, but it's okay.