In the midst of midterms, college can be pretty difficult. Students are expected to write long papers, spend long, exhaustive hours studying for tests or deal with uncooperative group members on projects. It would be easy to stop studying or writing and instead watch an episode of “The Bachelor” or a new movie.

While we may be tempted to revert to our comfortable tendencies, we shouldn’t. Whatever difficulty is going on in your life right now, embrace it. Though the phrase is cliché, it’s important to remember that we are most benefited by pushing through adversity. Stress is crucial to building our ideas and perspectives. It’s imperative we use it as a growth opportunity, as difficult as it may be. 

“I like taking a step back and saying, ‘Ok, what can I control right now?’” said Valentina Ponce, an international relations and global studies senior. 

Any time we’re put in a particularly taxing situation, we need to find the things that we’re able to control and use those to get back to a place of growth. 

There are three different places that we can exist in at a given time: comfort, growth and danger zones. We should strive to exist in the growth zone, a place where we aren’t comfortable, but are pushing ourselves beyond our existing boundaries. We should only resort back to the comfort zone when we push too hard, potentially into the danger zone. The danger zone is where we put our minds and bodies at risk. 

I wouldn’t consider myself an adrenaline junkie by any metric. I enjoy doing predictable things like golf, pickleball, lifting weights and running. You could guess that I wasn’t too thrilled when I agreed to go skydiving when I was asked.

I was told that in the moments before jumping out of a plane, you face every fear you’ve ever had. Yet, as I threw myself out of a plane, accelerating toward the Earth, I felt solemn pride in my decisiveness and courage to do something so outlandish. 

We aren’t meant to be in the air; gravity exists for a reason. But in that moment, there was no fear of death to be found. Comfort breeds complacency, and complacency results in laziness. When we exist in our growth zone, we learn more about ourselves and how we deal with different situations.

“I like being uncomfortable. … Being uncomfortable pushes me to face my fears,” said Ponce. “I learned that you are your biggest critic. People are just there to learn, and the only thing you should be stressed about is getting your information correct.” 

Our own fears and anxieties are more of a hindrance than what our peers think.  

We can learn amazing things about ourselves when we just say yes to something we wouldn’t normally do. Without stress, we can never grow. Without growth, we can never succeed. So whatever stress is facing you in your life — whether it be an impossible roommate or a daunting midterm — keep pushing. Not only will it get better, but your future self will be eternally grateful. 

At the end of the day, we likely won’t remember the stress we felt when studying for a seemingly impossible test. We will, however, remember the feeling of seeing a grade as rewarding as the effort you put into earning it. 

McCormack is a government senior from Dallas, Texas.