7 Feelings Every Unemployed 20-Something Knows

1. Hunger

Metaphorically or literally, you will be hungry. Hungry for something to do, somewhere to go, some point to getting up in the morning. But also hungry for everything in your fridge, pantry and freezer, because it’s there and you have nothing better to do than eat it.

2. Boredom

This one is obvious.You have no job: you have nothing to do. Even your epic marathon Netflix binge on Friday Night Lights grows boring. Boredom is not a feeling reserved for the unemployed –– even if you had a job right now, you’d probably be pretty bored with it, too. Many of the jobs reserved for us 20-somethings are bottom-barrel positions.

3. Hungover

It’s not like you have to be up early the next morning. You can drink yourself silly when you’re unemployed – so long as you have the cash to do so, or friends willing to finance it – because you have no real reason not to be hungover. This would be great, if it weren’t for the whole jobless part.

4. Horny

You’re bored. You have nothing to do. You’re seeking stimulation, and nothing stimulates quite like S-E-X. If you’re not toooo depressed, you’re probably quite horny all the time.

5. Lonely

You’re not getting proper socialization for lack of co-workers slash a populated office environment, and all or most of your friends are at their jobs during the day and too tired to chill most nights: if you’re an unemployed 20-something, lonely is the name of your game. It may be your most common and colossal feeling. Heavy, like a block of ice stuck in your gut.

6. Shame

It probably seems like just about everyone you know, all your college friends and whoever else, has a job of some sort. But not you. Nope, you can’t get a job. What’s wrong with you that you can’t get any dumb old job? (Nothing big, I’m sure.) You’ll feel shame, a private sort of shame.

7. Depression

Loneliness + shame + alcohol + sex + boredom = D-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N. This is the good kind of depression, though. (Well, not good per se. Depression is not good. But good like the good kind of cholesterol. It’s better than the other, worse one. The one that has no explanation and can’t be reached. The one that maybe doesn’t respond to most treatments.) This depression has a backstory, a reason for being. You’re unemployed and you don’t when it will get better.