When you are approaching something that makes you anxious, your mind spontaneously generates all kinds of thoughts to rationalize taking another path. It’s useful to notice this, identify the thoughts, write them down, and look at them with a critical eye. Usually there are some distortions or hidden assumptions involved.
“Working every day for the rest of my life.” That one’s easy. You know that you won’t be. There are holidays, days off, and so on. But beyond that, you have some assumptions about what working will involve, and how you will feel on the job. Identify those and write them down.
Many of our fears come from hidden ideas or things we have not considered. For example, you seem to be focusing on the downsides of work (write those down) but ignoring the downsides of not-work. What does that life look like? It’s natural to think “Well, it looks like my childhood – I get to play, sleep in, people take care of me, and I hang out with friends.” But that’s an obsolete vision. Not-work and not-adulthood is very different; being able to use your abilities, take care of yourself, and cultivate your adult self has many rewards that you may not be seeing.
One anxiety is often “I can’t imagine being in this job until I’m 65.” Good. Don’t. It is inconceivable that this job is the only one you’ll have. You’re not signing on to this job forever; you’re taking it for now. And if it isn’t all that inspiring? First jobs aren’t. That’s why we take them – to build up basic skills and get us into second jobs as fast as we can.