Fear of Failure

Prompt: Explain what scares you the most and why.

I've always been afraid of failing. It's okay if I get a low grade on a test or completely blow off an assignment 'til the last minute, that's not outright failure, in my opinion. What I'm completely afraid of, however, is failing in the long term. I fear that I'll work hard my whole life-in middle school, high school, and college- yet end up worse than the guy who almost didn't graduate high school. I fear that I'll drown in student debt at a college that I'm not good enough for. I fear that I will be lonely and won't have a set career path or any path at all, and will end up being stuck at one place while everyone around me moves on to bigger and better things. I fear that overall, I will have tried and tried my whole life and still not accomplish much. I fear that I will step out of a great university but enter into a mediocre job that I do not enjoy. I fear that all the sociable kids around me in the hallways will have more successful jobs, marriages, families, and lives, when they slack off throughout the year and I exert more effort.