I feel that you are very mature for your age! You have given me very wise and sensible replies to my posts. I'm 57 and right now I am extremely emotional due to hormonal changes of menopause, so I have terrible anxiety attacks, as well as depression. But when I was a child, I used to wake up every morning with a sense of dread. I was very depressed when I was in my late teens, and have tended to be depressed most of my life, but not as bad as in recent years. The anxiety has been bad before, but it also has grown worse in the past few years. I hope that once I get past menopause and things settle down hormonally, I will be calmer. (I hit menopause very late; most of my friends went through it when they were in their late 40s). We go through various stages during the course of our lives. Everything changes.

As for your friends being all "happy going to their jobs and moving up the career ladder, how are they so uninhibited" the answer is, they aren't. Everyone has these feelings of fear and anxiety, but most people are able to fake it and hide it. Believe me!!

I hope you can overcome your anxiety and move forward in a rewarding career.