Wanting to be a firefighter, and then realizing your fears and not going there, is actually smart. If you can get pro help and learn to face your fears, then it could be an option down the road.

I'm 52 and still don't know what I want to do, so don't feel too badly. I think there's lots of pressure on young people like you, when it comes to magically knowing what you're going to do. The world is always changing, more rapidly now than ever before. The jobs I've had over the past 15 years didn't even exist when I went to college.

I'd also recommend avoiding the news. I've seen stories about acid thrown in people's faces. Those stories are few and far between, and usually occur within specific groups in specific communities. If you're not living in those areas, and aren't a member of those specific groups or communities, then you might be able to give yourself a break. It's hard to use logic to get over fears. It doesn't always work for me, but I try.

As for avoiding the news, it's something I've had to do, because we can watch all of this horrible stuff, and then what? There's nothing we can do about it. Be informed? At what cost? And you can only care about so much before it starts to take a serious toll, regardless of one's mental health.

I make news filters, so that I get news updates about things I really want to know about, such as certain technology things.

I think it's reasonable to make decisions based on anxiety or phobias. I feel a great level of anxiety around groups of people, so I avoid those positions. So when I was your age and got a job at McDonald's, I was fine so long as I was behind that divider, cooking on the grill. Move me up to a cash register with a lobby full of people, and I'm psychologically and physically in a world of stress, anxiety, and trouble.

I've never gotten past that, so it still dictates what I do, to a degree. Best of luck, and welcome to the forum.