Students and young professionals: do you ever feel overwhelmed, distracted, worried about spending your time doing the "right" things?

Ugh, I feel this. I switched to a competitive, always innovating kind of field related to tech after not particularly liking the one I got a degree for. And you're so right, people are constantly working. There's work work which you churn out to pay the bills, and then there's personal work which is your passion side project that makes people go 'wow' and gets you scouted for better gigs.

I'm not used to this because my previous field I could leave work at the door and then do the same as you- exercise, socialize, divulge in other hobbies. But now it's expected that I go home and continue to work to hone my skills, because in this field what keeps you afloat is your extra curricular activities within the field. (Versus my old career where I'd just gradually get promoted with time and experience.)

I just can't keep up because I have other aspects of my life to invest time into that I believe are more valuable than career/skill progression. :/ Hard to not feel like I'm not investing time into the right thing like this.

/r/AskWomen Thread Parent