Is gpa everything?

kind of a (academic) life story…
I’m usually a down-to-earth person. However when it comes to academics… I feel pressured,troubled, worried, frustrated, confused and a nervous-wreck all at the same time. Since 2nd semester of 10th grade, I’ve been exhausting , working, and stressing myself every year to work harder to get As and Bs in most of my classes…. And for what?! To get a 2.8 overall in my 12th grade 2nd sem., B+ from three out of five senior classes when I really should be getting an A-, a C+ from that living hell economic class when I really need a B-, plus no honor roll, or anything!! I don’t know how straight As, 4.0s, and AP students made it seem so easy—-let alone being in three different sports ( I have a couple of friends who are like that). Here are a couple of other additional info in bullets:
· My (official ) H.S. gpa since 9th grade : 9—>1.8 (I know, terrible) 10th grade—> 2.4 , 11th grade—>3.0, 12th grade—>2.8 (not 3.3 to put me in honor roll, not even 3.0!)
· I personally though that 3.0 in my first sem. Of 12th grade would be good enough . Then I later found out it isn’t :-(. And now most UCs won’t accept me b/c of that (plus I have low SATs scores).
· I was going to be the first in my fam. to attend a UC system (my family are CSUs and Private Schools)
· And it’s no better on the CSU side either. All but one (CSUSD), said that they would accepted me, but can’t b/c of budget cuts. So I am one of those students who is forced to go to a local CSU that I least wanted to go (mostly b/c I wanted to travel far and need a new scenery)
· Not that I don’t mind education and h.w….but not to the point when teachers are trying to get under your skin by overloading. With most students and teachers, It seems like nobody wants to be there, and it feels like every assignment is just busy work that holds no relevance to real life.
· I hate being pressured to try harder/criticized (as a 3.0 student in my junior and senior year) for not trying hard enough. (one of my pet peeve)

Overall, it sounds like a thought of being a perfectionist has gotten to me and i seem to take my academic performance personally. and im not sure what to do about it. help??

P.s. I just graduated this year (2009) and heading off to a CSU.