Into the Real World

I recently turned twenty years old, and when you are nineteen, you still feel like a kid. You feel like nothing can touch you.  You are right out of high school, still immature in many ways, still naive to what the "real world" is like in many ways.  But eventually you have to start making important decisions about your future, and that can be a really tough thing. Society tells us you have to go to college to be successful and get a good job, and that may be true in many ways, but it forces you to make some tough decisions at an early age.  How, when you are eighteen years old, do you choose the career that you are going to pursue for the next 2-8 years of college?  It can lead to severe stress and anxiety when you are a senior in high school.

All through school I was one of those kids who would procrastinate until I absolutely had to do something, and I did the same thing with college.  Upon graduating high school with grades which were good, not great,  I decided to try out community college.  After one semester decided it wasn't really what I was looking for.  So I decided to take some time off from school, get a job and save as much money as I could. Well after and year and a half of working two different jobs, waiting tables, and working at a distribution center,  and saving no money, I decided it was definitely time to go back to college so I could pursue a career in which I would want to go to work everyday, instead of dreading it as I do now. Back when I was fresh out of high school, I didn't appreciate what college could do for me.  I just wanted to take the easy way out and start working and making money, but the real world ends up kicking your butt.

I feel like I spend a lot of time thinking (and worrying) about my future.  Am I the only who does this? In what ways do you cope with the pressures of life, and school, and prepare yourself for what the future has to hold?  I am interested to hear your ideas and opinions, so leave a comment below.