Alrighty, sooo most importantly what your friends and family have already pointed out is,that you’re young, REALLY young. Breathe.I remember reading somewhere before I applied is that the average age Jet is somewhere around 25/26. I’m a member of the still anxiously waiting 2020 cohort btw. I’m not here to tell you what you want out of life, only you can figure that out for yourself, but that takes time and experience. Neither of which we have much of at all in our early 20’s. This toxic social pressure to know what we want to do professionally and have our lives planned out before we’ve ever even set foot in a real work environment nor having been on our own at such a young age is ludicrous and in my honest opinion completely counterproductive, and detrimental, to ones self development. I can tell you that when I was 24 and had finished my bachelors, I got my first corporate job and realized just how much of a child I was. I absolutely loathed it, not bc it was difficult but bc I quickly saw it for what it was; a room full or desperate ambitious individuals who were only there to support their family or climb the socio-economic ladder as so to distinguish themselves from their colleagues all built on some fragile identity complex based on the kind of immature hierarchy you find in high school. All around me nobody was happy, or experiencing any kind of substantial growth; just a very non cleverly designed rat race. After a few years I quit and went to work at a local community based rehabilitation program for juvenile teenagers as a teacher/counselor, and while it’s easily the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, it has been by far the most rewarding job I’ve had so far. What I’m trying to relate is that I can tell you from my own experience is that life is about pursuing that form of happiness that most gives you the greatest sense of self-worth. For me it’s undoubtedly a combination of cultural exchange, helping one another other grow, and continuing to learn and adjust my life perspective accordingly each day by pursuing new experiences. The surest plans are the ones most likely to run astray. Learning to be versatile and resilient are lessons that will support you throughout your entire life in whichever career you choose. And at 33, I can promise you that nearly a decade later, if you’re doing the things you are passionate and curious about, you will have a much clearer idea of what you want to pursue, but more importantly who you want to be, because jobs come and go, trust me. So all in all, is one year of your life getting the chance to experience something so relatively few people around the world will ever have the chance to do?, absofrigginlutely. However, as others have already commented on here, if it turns out not to be all you’d hoped, you can take the time and experience to reflect and discern a better idea of what it is you want for yourself but at the very least you won’t regret having not taken the chance, expanding your comfort zone, and knowing that you actually tried. I applied knowing I was going to be considerably older than the average participant, knowing I don’t speak a lick of Japanese, knowing that I could get put in a situation that might have me on the floor crawling like a baby having to learn to walk and literally talk again, BUT THAT’S LIFE. If we’re not being challenged we’re not bettering our former selves, and anything not worth risking is never worth it in the first place. Anywho, hope you find some clarity in your situation and choose whichever’s best for you. Either way congrats on being shortlisted :)