Career anxiety: Why do I feel so lost?

I've never been 'chilled' in fact some might say I'm a little Type A. Overacheiver, over thinker and especially an over planner. I'm happy to go with the flow, if I know where its flowing.

Finishing my second year of uni came with a huge sigh of relief but what came barrelling behind that big sigh was a feeling of dread. In just over a year I will graduate and be released into the real world. Which means I have to get a big girl job.

After two years at uni studying Journalism, I've filled my time with work experience, networking and student media, so why do I feel like I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Its terrifying to me to think I could get drawn into the prospect of an exciting new job and in a blink of an eye 20 years have passed and I'm hearing about how my colleagues cat washes its paws before dinner. At first this story was shocking, now it's just 2pm on a casual Monday.

The alternative seems even more grim. In my mind, I swap cat-loving Karen for hours of job searching on Indeed with no reward. A sad graduate with no hope of success and the potential to become a cat lady herself.

So why is it I feel this way? In typical panicked fashion, I rushed to my laptop and turned to Google to cure me of this feeling, I can't be the only one can I? Has everyone else got their life together?

Fear not, fellow lost ones, you are not alone. Through my extensive research (a quick google search and a half an hour soul searching chat with my parents) it turns out that not many people know what they're doing either.

Those amongst us that have achieved great success hardly ever made a plan that worked out. Instead, life had its own ideas and several twists and turns later, they ended up where they needed to be.

This, unsurprisingly, did not ease my anxiety. As previously mentioned, I am a planner and to be told I can't plan well, to put it bluntly, pisses me off. For those of you like me who struggle with the concept of going with the flow, I instead decided to formulate a plan (of course) of how to cope with my impending doom in the meantime.

So, here is my pre-plan for success, the secrets to sucessfully not planning your way to success, if you will:

1. Stop with the comparison- I am above all, someone that believes everything happens for a reason, so I decided in my optimism, to apply this to my career. What will be will be, and in order to abide by that rule I needed to stop comparing my progress with others.

2. Keep doing the work- My dream career isn't going to be the one that I am offered straight away. Success takes work. I decided to shift my perspective and instead of focusing on solely my dream career path, I branched out, covering all bases to ensure that I have a lot to offer.

3. Stay positive- I have accepted that although not everything may come my way, I am capable and good things will happen to me. (This all works out great until you stub your toe and the blinding pain makes you lose all faith in the world.)

Ultimately, despite all my worrying and research I can't control what is going to happen. However, I, like you, can ensure that I keep working towards my goals and simply improve along the way.

It's impossible to determine where life will take you, much to my annoyance, and it's a waste of time worrying about it, so instead I am choosing to be positive and to trust that what's meant for me won't pass me by.

And if everything goes to shit, well, I can always buy a cat.