Anxiety in Approaching Adulthood
The excitement of graduation is start to wind down and the promise of a summer ahead is building. Now what? Whether you’re preparing to head off for college, taking a gap year, getting situated with a trade school, or entering the work force, this might all be uncharted territory! So how do we know when we’re ready for a big life transition?
Well… We’re usually not. Some of us clinging to the idea of ‘control’ over every minute detail might spend endless downtime playing through the possible scenarios and trying to prepare in advance. And, yes, there are definitely some things we can prepare for, while other things in our new chapters will always end up surprising us.
Something you’ll hear a lot of us mental health professionals talk about is identifying what *is* in our control and what is not. It might sound terrifying to acknowledge and accept that some things are out of our control, no matter how many lists or sleepless nights we’ve tried to arm ourselves with, but it can also be quite freeing and exciting. The best advice is to show up as yourself with your experiences thus far and try to “make the next best choice”, one choice at a time. It can sometimes be helpful to create a visual of what is in our control and what is not so that we can ensure we are devoting the proper time and energy to the things that we are able to prepare for.
With such a big turn of the page, it may be a valuable time to reflect on what types of external supports are available to you in finding your footing and helping you to feel empowered and successful as you get acclimated to a new world. Who and what can help bolster your efforts? Who’s in your inner circle, gets what you’re coming from, or may have been there before? If you’ve always noticed feeling like you might benefit from accommodations in school, but haven’t yet taken the first step in accessing them, could it be a helpful consideration to explore a psychological assessment? Getting to know ourselves and those that best support us is a huge part of ensuring stability as you approach this newness. Meeting with a therapist, speaking with a nutritionist, or setting up a psychological assessment can often be helpful steps in helping you feel like the best and most self-aware version of you as you step into the future!
