DOES ‘FEAR OF COVID-19’ TRIGGER FUTURE CAREER ANXIETY?

Charlene Mae B. Roque

Like any other pandemic situation, people tend to fear their life in the first place and then the fear of their belongings also arises. As the fear deepens, that ultimately forms depression.

Human emotion is a complex set of processes. Where fear and anxiety play a great role independently. From a theoretical viewpoint, fear has been considered as a primary form of emotion that is present commonly across ages, races, cultures and species. A new and fatal epidemic disease like COVID-19 can form fear, panic, anxiety and stigma very quickly among individuals worldwide. With access to realtime information, unreliable pieces of information on social media like Facebook rumors somehow creates a fear in this pandemic situation. With the presence of fear and the uncertainty about the future, the human emotional system forms some kind of anxiety. Anxiety is a state of human emotion which can be formed due to the perception of future threat. Uncertainty about the future career often impacted an individual’s present quality of life. During the time of global pandemic, careerrelated anxiety gets momentum particularly among the forth-coming graduates who are going to face the job market in the near future. But due to the outbreak of any unwanted global phenomenon the regular expectation level comes down and the situations like COVID-19 fear poses the greatest threat for those minds who are planning their future career. Thus, in this uncertain situation, the potential workforces fear turned toward career anxiety.

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, human emotion significantly stuck with different negative aspects. Thus, the fear turns into depression and the future workforce is going through unimaginable tough situation. Mental health and physical health are also seriously affected by distress and long-term negativity. As the worlds’ economy had already stumbled and no one actually knows how the world will be retrieved from this unwanted situation, the economy will be squeezed in many fields all over the world.

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The author is Administrative Assistant II at Gov. Manuel D. Barretto National

High School, Maloma, San Felioe, Zambales