jobs and growing up
i'm terrified of getting a job. on some level i know i'll be fine, but when i dream about having a job (which has happened quite a few times) it always begins fine and then ends with me having a major panic attack bc i've messed everything up. at eighteen, most of my peers have already gotten a job including my friends, but i'm so far behind. i don't have a lisence, i've never had a job, and i just got an id for the first time the other day. it feels like i'm so behind on everything and it's freaking me out.
Hi there @husbandoeridan.
The push for someone to get their first job can most definitely be quite daunting. It's something that is completely new because you don't actually experience something like that during your school life, and it truly is a symbol of growing up.
Firstly, comparing yourself to others isn't fair on you. Just because your friends or even people who were born in the same year as you have secured themselves a job before you have, it doesn't mean they're any better nor that you're any worse. Everyone is unique. Not everyone learns to walk at the same time nor do they learn how to talk at the same time as eachother, so why should it matter that someone gets a job before someone else? Everyone develops at their own pace. Take a deep breathe, try and relax and remember it's not a race!
The impression you gave was that you're definitely interested in getting a job but a lot of worrying in your mind takes over that interest, is that correct? When you are dreaming about having a job, what sort of thing are you doing; is it something you are interested in? Also, what happens in those dreams that makes you class it as messing everything up?
@Sealiously thank you for your kind words, i appreciate them. i definitely am interested in getting a job. i want to help with things like rent and have money for my own things instead of relying on my father.
one dream i had i was a fry cook/drive thru server, which i definitely have zero interest in, and for the first half of the dream i was doing fine and excelling at the job and then everything came crashing down. orders were going out late, people were complaining, and it just ended bad. the other dream i don't 100% remember i was working at like hogwarts or something. i don't remember much of that one, but i remember it ending badly like the first one.
i'm most likely going to end up working at kroger, which would be fine, or a dish washer, which would also be fine bc i like to wash dishes, my mind just races until something that seems fine starts to turn into something awful and terrifiying. it's probably due to my anxiety and i'm thinking of seeing a therapist again to talk through this issue (among others). i just wish i could handle it without freaking out over nothing.
@husbandoeridan
I remember when I got my first job, I had a lot of anxiety about messing it up too. I felt a lot of pressure to be perfect, but I realize now that that was just me - I expected myself to be perfect, but they did not. Employers understand it is a process to learn a new job and get settled in. Of course you will make some mistakes, but it's not as big of a deal as it feels like! You seem like someone that would be dedicated and responsible and try your best, all great things in a new employee :)