University, choosing a career, starting your first job, moving to another city or country. Young adulthood is a period filled with important decisions that can feel as though they will determine the rest of your life.
Sometimes, however, the difficulty is not simply making a decision. It is the persistent fear of making the wrong one.
“What if I choose the wrong degree?”
“What if I regret this decision in a few years?”
“What if everyone else is moving forward while I am falling behind?”
These questions can turn uncertainty about the future into a persistent source of anxiety. Psychology has increasingly examined this experience through the concept of future anxiety, referring to apprehension, worry, and uncertainty about events that have not yet happened.
A certain amount of concern about the future is normal and can even be useful. Thinking about possible outcomes allows us to plan, prepare, and make decisions.
The difficulty arises when planning becomes repetitive worry and the future is perceived primarily as a source of threat.
What is future anxiety?
Future anxiety is not a distinct psychological diagnosis. Rather, it describes a pattern that can be present in different forms of psychological distress.
It concerns the way we anticipate and interpret events that we cannot fully predict or control.
When uncertainty is experienced as particularly threatening, the mind may repeatedly attempt to predict what will happen, identify every possible risk, and find the “right” decision before moving forward.
The problem is that certainty about the future is impossible to achieve.
We can prepare for what might happen, but we cannot know exactly what will happen.
When making a decision becomes difficult
Young adulthood often involves several major decisions at the same time.
Which university should I attend? What should I study? Should I continue studying or start working? Should I move abroad? Which career should I pursue?
There is rarely one objectively correct answer to these questions. Yet when we believe that a decision could have major consequences, we may begin searching for the perfect solution.
This can lead to indecision, excessive research, reassurance seeking, and repeatedly reconsidering previous choices.
Paradoxically, the more we try to achieve complete certainty, the harder it can become to make a decision.
The psychology of uncertainty
One of the concepts extensively studied in anxiety research is intolerance of uncertainty.
People differ in how much uncertainty they can comfortably tolerate. For some, not knowing what will happen is simply an unavoidable part of life. For others, uncertainty can feel particularly threatening.
When uncertainty is perceived as intolerable, people may become more likely to seek excessive information, anticipate negative scenarios, or repeatedly check and reconsider their decisions.
However, none of these strategies can completely eliminate uncertainty.
The future remains uncertain, regardless of how much we analyse it.
Future anxiety and academic burnout
Future anxiety can be particularly relevant during university years.
Studying, exams, grades, and career expectations may be experienced not only as present challenges, but also as evidence of whether we are capable of building a successful future.
A longitudinal study published in 2026 examined the relationship between future anxiety and academic burnout, finding a temporal association between concerns about the future and academic burnout. The study also explored rumination as a possible mechanism involved in this relationship.
This helps explain why constantly thinking about the future is not necessarily an effective form of preparation.
When worry becomes persistent, it can consume cognitive and emotional resources that would otherwise be available for dealing with the present.
“Everyone is moving forward except me”
Future anxiety is not only about decisions. It can also be fuelled by social comparison.
During university and the early years of a career, it may appear that everyone else has already found their path. Someone graduates, someone gets a job, someone moves abroad, someone starts a relationship, someone reaches an important milestone.
Social media can amplify this perception by showing us other people’s achievements while rarely showing the uncertainty, failed attempts, and alternative paths behind them.
This can create an implicit question:
“If everyone else seems to know where they are going, why don’t I?”
But there is no single correct timeline for young adulthood.
When perfectionism enters the picture
For some people, fear about the future becomes closely connected to perfectionism.
If a decision is perceived as permanent, choosing becomes much more difficult. Instead of looking for a decision that is sufficiently good and consistent with our current values and circumstances, we may feel that we need to identify the best possible choice.
This can create a cycle:
uncertainty → search for certainty → excessive analysis → difficulty deciding → increased anxiety.
The problem is not necessarily that we will make the wrong decision. It may be the belief that a decision must be perfect in order to be safe.
Can we really be certain about the future?
One important psychological skill in dealing with uncertainty is learning to distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot.
We can gather information, consider alternatives, evaluate possible consequences, and make decisions that are consistent with our goals.
We cannot know with certainty what our lives will look like five or ten years from now.
This does not mean giving up on planning. It means developing a greater tolerance for uncertainty and accepting that a good decision does not necessarily guarantee a perfect outcome.
From control to psychological flexibility
Contemporary psychological approaches, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), place particular emphasis on psychological flexibility: the ability to remain connected to what matters even when difficult emotions or uncertainty are present.
The goal is not to eliminate fear about the future.
It is to learn not to let that fear determine every decision.
This may involve asking yourself:
- What matters most to me at this point in my life?
- Which values do I want my decisions to reflect?
- What choice is consistent with what is important to me today?
- Which aspects of this situation can I realistically control?
- Can I allow myself not to know exactly how things will turn out?
You do not need to know your entire future to start building it
Young adulthood does not necessarily require having a definitive plan.
People change careers, interests, relationships, cities, and goals. A decision made today does not necessarily have to define the person you will become for the rest of your life.
Learning to tolerate this openness can be difficult, but it can also allow us to approach decisions with greater flexibility and less pressure.
If worry about the future becomes persistent, interferes with studying, work, sleep, or relationships, or makes it difficult to make everyday decisions, psychological support may be helpful.
Psychological support can help you understand the mechanisms maintaining anxiety, develop greater tolerance for uncertainty, and build more effective strategies for navigating transitions and important life decisions.
Contact me for a psychological consultation if anxiety about the future, perfectionism, or difficulty making decisions is affecting your wellbeing.
References
- Carleton, R. N. (2016). Into the unknown: A review and synthesis of contemporary models involving uncertainty. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 39, 30–43.
- Grupe, D. W., & Nitschke, J. B. (2013). Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety: An integrated neurobiological and psychological perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14, 488–501.
- Roese, N. J., & Summerville, A. (2005). What we regret most… and why. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(9), 1273–1285.
- Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (2012). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change. Guilford Press.
- Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2013). A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self compassion program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 28–44.
- American Psychiatric Association (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR).