It’s been a while since monsters under the bed kept me up at night, but I’d take those monsters over worrying about my future any day.
Us PR interns working at Brock Communications have similar things that worry us out of a good night’s sleep. With competition in our field intensifying and graduation dates looming, there are plenty of thoughts that keep us up at night.
Worrying About the Present And Unpreparedness
Despite the unknown beyond college, we also worry about the present. Bryan stresses about his alarm clock not going off, despite the fact that this has never happened to him. We all worry about being unprepared for meetings when I have yet to see a case of this either. Making up potential problems for ourselves needs to stop because the world will give us plenty of realities to worry about.
Being young in this field often makes me feel unprepared or assume that I have done something wrong. I cannot count how many times my heart rate has jumped simply because a superior came over to speak with me. This is likely because experience is what teaches you to trust your instincts and be confident that you have accomplished everything you need to; I have not had the years working in PR that this form of self-trust requires.
Tackling To-Do Lists
Something that can get to all of us is when to-do lists pile up. It’s very tempting to put low-priority projects off for a few days but that often leads to unneeded stress. It is kind of a vicious circle when you stay up worrying that you’re not going to finish all your work for tomorrow, but more time to sleep is something that could help you do so.
Navigating the Workplace Environment
Learning to gracefully navigate the workplace is important and thinking about it occasionally keeps me up. “Should I cc her on that email?” “Is my outfit for tomorrow right for the office environment?” “Am I asking too many questions?”
PR presents a whole other set of trepidations because the work can be high profile and there is often contact with members of the media. In the field, there are many chances to make errors. This has helped me to train myself to triple-check work and to edit carefully, but it has not limited the stress.
At the end of the day, loving the field you want to go into means not being carefree about your work or your future.
What kind of worries keep you up at night?
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