Remember to Breathe by Sarah

Remember to Breathe by Sarah - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

When speaking with younger students regarding pursuing a higher education, I would convey one simple piece of advice to them- just breathe. I remember the immense pressure I felt, from outside sources but mostly from myself, to be the model college student. Your college education and performance are of the utmost importance, but always keep in mind that they do not measure your worth as a human being. There is an enormous amount of pressure in today’s society for students to achieve perfection- maintain a 4.0 grade point average, serve as student body president, be the star of your athletic team, and work twenty hours a week at a part time job all the while still maintaining a vibrant social life and remaining miraculously energetic and upbeat through it all. Stories from the media as of late have highlighted the nervous breakdowns of several students for whom all of this pressure became too much and they cracked. These students wanted so desperately to surpass expectations that they ended up harming themselves with destructive behaviors that spiraled out of control simply because they did not feel they met societal expectations.
If you receive a poor score on an assignment for a course, it does not mean that you have failed the class, your professor, or yourself. If you do not score as well as you hope to on an exam, your life will not crumble and your record at the university will not be forever tarnished. You can aim for perfection but remember that you can only do the best that you can and if that doesn’t always mean one hundred percent, you haven’t failed completely. Go to class, apply yourself mentally and physically, work hard, and study thoroughly. Set reasonable goals, both academic and personal, for yourself and strive to achieve them. You will graduate with the academic record you earn through this hard work. But in the case that it isn’t perfect, everything will be just fine.