The noise around you is echoing; you’re feeling impatient like you could go on a run. You aren’t physically running in a race, but your thoughts are college, family, high school, friends and so many other things impacting your life. You’re staring out into space contemplating life beyond the present.
In our school, the fear of growing up has been a conversation topic and a concern that many have addressed. As the college application process approaches, students are increasingly worrying about their future, which may seem rather uncertain at this moment in time. However, it is not just those applying for colleges; many people who are prompted to think about their future also end up in this rabbit hole.
Many of the people, who stated they have experienced these fears of growing up and becoming an adult, expressed they cannot paint a clear image of what their future might look like.
“It’s still very vague, like I for sure know what I want to do. I want to become a dermatologist, but I am not too sure how that path is going to look for me, and during the process of being a dermatologist,” junior Nhu Lam said.
Many people, from an outsider’s perspective, have discussed why this topic is so prevalent at a school like ours, an academic-based school with rigorous courses for students who can meet these requirements and standards. In a study, people who were diagnosed with anxiety disorder also showed a correlation between high IQs and increased worries.
Additionally, this idea of high intellect and anxiety has been something that people within the education environment have also recognized through their experiences with the students.
“Fear is for the people with high intellectual capability, especially your age because you are predicting so many bad things will happen to you if you do this thing or you don’t. Once again, you think too much because you are capable of thinking too much. You come up with this scenario, ‘Oh my god, if I do this, if I don’t do this, this is going to happen to me; even though it might never happen.’ You live in fear because you think too much,” Algebra teacher Norio Kaneko said.
The college acceptance process is a difficult one to go through because there are so many factors involved when it comes to getting accepted into your dream school. For some people, they might be interested in a specific school, and if they get rejected, they feel their life has been redirected negatively.
Many teenagers on TikTok post about college acceptance experiences, and this shows how the college they get into determines their lives. One that I saw said, “Just got my first college rejection letter from the team I’ve supported my whole life. The world did end when I was 17.”
The process of growing up is determined by the life choices we make when we are teenagers, which is terrifying to think about. The choices you are making now will impact how you live the rest of your life.
If you are undergoing the fear of growing up, there is a good chance you are catastrophizing. We might make it seem that if we don’t get into our desired college, we will never get into any college, which could lead to us not getting a stable job in the future. It is a rabbit hole; if we do not stop ourselves from going down, we might get stuck in the cycle.
It is valid for people to feel this way, but we have to make sure to use mental health resources when we require them. Remember that the world does not end with one bad experience like getting rejected from college; rejection is redirection.
Mental Health Resources:
