I'm Maura Aronsmeli, and this is The Anxious Achiever.

We look at stories from business leaders who've dealt with anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges, how they fell down, how they pick themselves up, and how they hope workplaces can change in the future.

I'm just old enough to marvel how accomplished so many young people today are.

The forethought, the effort, the drive. They do everything you're supposed to do to

accomplish your goals in life. Millennials now are the most educated cohort in American history.

And for many young people, it's the season to start thinking about their future. But that

future looks very different for those just graduating from college or just setting out on a new job, buying a house, starting a family, than it did just a few months ago.

We reached out to listeners to get a sense of what they're feeling right now, as the uncertainty

swells and how they think about how this year might impact them for years ahead, in their

careers, their financial stability, ability to get married, buy a house, start that family,

and in their dreams.

First, I spoke to Darya Ford, a young woman just graduating from Barnard College in New York

with a computer science degree. Daria grew up without a lot of money in New York City, got a scholarship

to Miss Porter's for high school, completed the girls who code program on the path to a career in STEM.

In short, she did everything right.

But she doesn't know what the future holds.

I always knew that I wanted to go to college because I saw education as a gateway to just better myself and achieve whatever the American dream is or what I thought it was when I was younger.

So I went away to boarding school when I was in high school, and I was able to get

that opportunity through a program called the Oliver Scholars Program, which helps minorities get into

private school. I made sure that I did the best that I could and also just tried to be the best,

especially as a black woman. I just, I couldn't really afford to be what I thought was average

academically. And I think when I got to Barnard, it shifted away from being not mediocre

...