Wednesday, November 14, 2012

a crisis of faith

It's one of those middle of the night times where I am overwhelmed by fear. I am so afraid that I'm not living up to my potential, whatever that means. I'm afraid that I will never really make a difference. I'm afraid of changing my mind and letting people down. Basically, I'm afraid of failure.
I've heard from many people that your 20s are supposed to be the best time in your life. But I'm afraid that I'm going to spend the entire decade too stressed out to enjoy anything. Everything is so expensive. Life is so uncertain. And I feel like every decision I make now will have a huge impact on the rest of my life. I'm not sure that I can handle that responsibility.
I'm afraid that I'll never fall in love and never have a family of my own, which is what I really want. I'm worried that I'll lose all of my friends and never make new ones because everybody secretly hates me. I know this is irrational, but I think about it a lot.
I have made so many plans in my head that may never come to fruition. I may never be able to realize any of my dreams because what if my dreams aren't really what I want? Or what if they are? That second thought terrifies me more. And it also means that I have a lot of work to do.
What if I never move out of my parents' house? What if I can't afford to finish college? What if I never get a "real job"? What if I'm just a failure for the rest of my life?
And what if my parents' health fails (more than it has already)? How will I handle this? Who will take care of them? I will. I will be left to do it. But what if I don't have the money to take care of them?
And, more immediately, my car keeps breaking down and I can't afford a new one. I kind of need reliable transportation. And breaking down once on the side of the road is enough to make me terrified that it's going to happen again in a much more dangerous place. I realize cars are just things and money is just things, but they are kind of important things.
Basically, I'm most afraid of being an unlovable failure. I don't know how to eliminate this fear other than just keep moving through life and hoping and praying for the best. But sometimes that's not enough to calm my fears. And I know this is kind of a crisis of faith because when has God ever let me down? But since I am so disgustingly human, I suck at trusting.

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