I used to be known as “the over-achiever of the over-achievers”.

I did everything.

In my high school career, I have played two sports (varsity and JV), marched in the band, written for the newspaper, represented my class in student leadership, and taken more classes than could ever be healthy.

You get the idea.

I wanted to do it all. And I was doing it.

Until, one night, I found myself sobbing, feeling like I would break under the weight I was carrying. Faced with the prospect of getting two (shock, horror!) Bs, I thought that no college would ever accept me. Those Bs might as well have been Fs.

Under the lurking presence of these two black marks, I stepped back and took a look at myself. The conclusion? I was stressed beyond belief, a raw bundle of nerves, trying to do everything I saw around me. I just couldn’t say no.

It was then that I was hit by an epiphany that now seems so painfully obvious: I was trying to do too much.

So, I had to stop and reevaluate my priorities. What really mattered? Were all my classes worth the stress and fatigue I was faced with daily?

I decided they weren’t. A painful decision, but well worth it.

So, I dropped some classes, something I’d never done before. Slowly, I began to get it through my head that my grades were not the be-all, end-all of my life. I didn’t become less intelligent if I didn’t ace every class. My worth was not directly related to my performance in school, no matter how much I felt that this was so.

An education is more than grades. School is about learning life lessons, just as much as it is about tests and homework. My years of high school have taught me not to worry about things I can’t change. I’ve learned that all I can do is try my hardest; I can’t possibly do any more than that.

So, I guess, in a way, I’m glad for those two Bs I got. I needed them. Their glaring presence on my otherwise stellar record proved to me that I was not infallible and that I really needed to stop biting off more than I could chew.

Now I still worry over my grades sometimes, but I try to remember that all that is required of me is to try as hard as I can and do everything I can. The rest must be left to Providence.

Bad grades still hurt me a little. But, I’m learning that they don’t make me a worse person.

So, when I flunk a math test after studying all night, I try to take things a little more in stride.

As it is said, “The sun will go on rising and setting, whether I fail in Calculus or not.”