We are probably all taking a class that we dislike with a passion. If you’re like me, this statement applies to more than one class. You most likely spend a fair amount of your free time complaining about this particular professor and their ridiculous workload or just the dreadful people in the class. We have all felt this same sort of misery, and we will all continue to feel it throughout this semester.

Whenever I find myself whining about this kind of class, one of my friends is bound to question me with a “Why are you even taking it?” or attempt to corrupt me with the suggestion, “Just don’t go.” Yes, we all skip our fair share of classes – although if my mom is reading this, I have never once skipped a class in my life. But for the most part it becomes a slippery slope once you start skipping. You go less and less, you beg your friend in that class to bring your iClicker with them, your grades start to drop. So you go. And so you suffer.

But why didn’t you just drop the class?

Why did you spend day in and day out grinding your teeth and trying not to fall asleep during this class from hell?

Personally, I like sticking it out until the very end. There’s probably some part of me that hopes and dreams that one day – maybe the next class, or the one after that – it will get better, but in all honesty, it’s primarily a pride thing. I feel a sort of satisfaction when I know that I made it through 50 minutes of torture, three times a week, for an entire semester.

Of course, there’s other reasons to keep taking the class, besides getting an odd sense of contentment from the misery. Often it is a required course for your major. You could take it again next semester with a different professor, but that’s not always possible or logical. Maybe there’s no other class that works with your schedule, or perhaps you just like the way it fits perfectly into your day, or your best friend is also taking the class and you might as well just remain in agony together.

For me, taking classes I hate is like a metaphor for life. I’ll be the first to admit that there have been times I’ve simply given up and logged onto Spire five minutes before my class and celebrated as I watched it disappear forever from my schedule. We all give up sometimes. We lose the girl. We lose the game. We decide not everything is worth fighting for.

But in our greatest moments, we realize that against all odds, we can do it. We can and we must survive whatever life throws at us, whether it is an extra boring lecture or a rough day at work. Life is full of highs and lows, and as difficult as things may seem now, they can only get better. Keep trying your best, going to class, and complaining your little heart out. College only lasts for so long – one day you’ll be somewhere else in the world and you’ll be glad you taught yourself the art of perseverance.

Gabby Vacarelo is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected]