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[quote=Anonymous]My daughter recently turned 18, and the stress of becoming an adult is really getting to her. She’s been worried for a while now but it seems to be getting worse.She puts a huge amount of pressure on herself to “have everything figured out,” and now that she’s technically an adult and getting closer to her 20s, she’s spiraling a bit thinking she’s behind in life already.

She worries constantly about the future — not just college and the transition ahead, but everything. Marriage, relationships, pregnancy, whether she’ll find the right partner, whether she’ll be able to raise kids the right way, even things like picking the right baby names, picking the right wedding venue, living in the right area, and making choices she won’t regret later.

What worries me is how far ahead her anxiety goes for someone who is only 18. She worries about future medical issues even though she’s healthy. She’s already anxious about aging and wants to start anti-aging routines because she’s afraid of getting older. She worries about whether she’ll raise future children the right way, where she should live to give them the best life, whether her future kids will be healthy, whether she’ll accidentally marry the wrong person and end up divorced, whether she’ll regret big life decisions years later, and whether she’ll somehow ruin important milestones like her future wedding by making the wrong choices.

She also worries about dating, about making the wrong decisions, and about having everything perfectly in place by the time she’s older. She even wants electrolysis, and is very worried about her looks. It’s like she feels she needs answers to every major life question right now at 18.

It’s gotten to the point where she says she can’t focus on the present or enjoy normal things because she’s always thinking ahead and worrying about adulthood and the future. She’s trying to plan things, and is constantly worried. Her mind is always racing.

I try to reassure her that nobody has life complete figured out at 18 (but she seems consumed by the idea that the best years of life are approaching and she’s unprepared for them.

Has anyone else dealt with this level of future anxiety as a young adult? What helped you?
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