Dear Jack:

Are there school based counselors, career counselors in your school that can help you?

Maybe you can meet with a career counselor/ advisor in Uni while you are still in secondary school, to help you prepare your way ahead?

What I can tell you- because it is easy to determine this- is that panicking will not help you. Got to adopt a CALM attitude, as calm as possible.

You are thinking about your future, good. On the other hand, fifty years of future in one package of a boring, low paying lump is too much to think about.

If you could go back in time, you would make a few different choices, I understand. On the other hand, wrong choices, in retrospect, is what everyone does, including successful people. Your life now is not as threatened as you think it is, because of those choices.

All-or-Nothing is a category of distorted thinking and it goes something like this, in your case: I made wrong choices and now Nothing is my future. No, no, not so.

anita

Dear Jack:

It won’t hurt to seek advice again, although what you shared about the quality of advice reads believable to me. You didn’t mention the possibility, if it is a possibility of advice at a university, if you could qualify for such before attending. Also, maybe another career advice resource may be available to you.

Regarding what you wrote here: “I just cant seem to escape this way of thinking unless im playing games or going out with friends which to me seems like trying to run away from my problems instead of trying to deal with them.”-

It is anxiety and distress you are dealing with. Until you find new ways to relieve your anxiety, do use, in moderation, the old ways (playing games and going out with friends). The anxiety needs to be relieved, that is not negotiable. Again, it is moderation (not all-or-nothing) to practice.

Today and every day, find ways to calm yourself, this is most important. Anxiety is like a fog in your brain. You can not see clearly because that fog is in your way. This is why it is important to clear that fog with calm. Other ways to calm yourself: brisk walks in the cold London air outside (what about those beautiful parks?), other forms of exercise, calming music).

anita