To give some background, I recently got hired to a clinical position recently. It's my first full time job that I've ever gotten, and it's my first exposure to the professional world. It's honestly a pretty good position to start at: lower average pay for someone in my major but much higher than my last job, excellent experience for my field for resume building, benefits are nice, etc. Despite that though, I've been wracked with stress and anxiety about getting to this point in my life, constantly in fear about adjusting to the professional world and living a boring, unfufilling life of a “busy professional”, especially with the way the world is now.
To provide a bit more context, I graduated with a Biochemistry degree and experimenting with clinical lab work at the moment. It's not a passion of mine by any means, but it is a topic I was at least somewhat interesed in during school. I've always viewed work as me putting in my hired hours and not a moment more, and having a job to me is simply getting money I need to live, nothing more. I've constantly been told that “work is my life now” , and seeing the loss of time for myself in a 40 hour work week combined with the activities I need to do to sustain myself, I'm petrified at the thought that…yeah, I have no CHOICE but to become a worker drone. I've tried to reconsider this situation by using the money to accomplish major goals in my life, like bettering my mental health, finding a place to live with my boyfriend, and setting aside the money for my hobbies, but it hasn't been helping ease my mind.
I'm not even sure if this is the right place to be posting this kind of stuff, but this being on my mind is preventing me from actually living and enjoying the time I have, and the anxiety is just eating away at me. Does anyone have any advice for adjusting to the working world? Is there something I can do to ease the anxiety? What are some things I should keep in mind? Am I being stupid?