r/Anxiety•
speahlo

how to deal with the fear and expectation of failure?

Work/School

im 19 years old, started online homeschool in freshman year and am on the cusp of graduating high school. i’m currently in my first year of trade school taking a class i absolutely despise while finishing my senior year of high school online. i could’ve gone to college and probably done something useful with my life, but i cannot stand any form of schooling. i chose trade school as a sort of plan b. any time ive taken a class on something i genuinely enjoy, my interest in it is ruined. i work from home making shit money. i’m also in a band that i don’t expect to go anywhere. ive been doing electrical engineering, specifically designing and building musical equipment, as a hobby for many years now. my dream is to be able to start a business selling the things i make. i’ve worked my ass off chasing this goal for the last several months, and i’m almost ready to launch and begin selling things. but, i cannot shake this terrible awful feeling that i will fail no matter what i do. in the back of my mind, i know that no matter what, i will end up working a shitty job doing something i hate. i’m so angry at myself for not even being willing to attempt to take the “normal” route of going to college and getting a decent job. i know that it’s not necessarily rational to expect that it won’t work when i haven’t even really tried, but i cannot stop feeling this way. im so terrified of the passage of time and failure, i feel so much pressure to make everything work out this instant. does anyone else deal with this? what can i do to help myself not feel this way?

Posted Feb 18, 2026, 2:17 AM UTC

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