It’s not like I haven’t tried to get a job. I’ve sent out so many resumes, filled out countless applications, and gone on a few interviews, and still nothing. It’s probably the most frustrating thing I’ve ever dealt with as a young adult. Not having a summer job seems like every college student's dream; summer should be a time to relax and have zero responsibilities.
But being unemployed sucks. And here’s what it’s like.
Waking up at 10am and going from your bed straight to the couch to not find anything worth watching on daytime tv is nice for the first couple days. There’s nothing worth watching on daytime television and within two hours of waking up, your phone is almost dead from switching back and forth between the same three apps. You see just about the same things on every social media timeline five times before you decide to flip through the channels a couple more time or maybe watch a few episodes of a series you want to start binge watching. Then you decide to eat something, and when you do, you can’t help but feel like the laziest person alive and you begin to wish you could do something productive with your life. You’d ask your friends to hang out, but guess what, they’re working. A couple hours pass and you decide to do something active and run on the treadmill for a little bit and then take a shower. Later in the evening when the entire family is home, you eat dinner together and talk about how everyone’s day was, but your every day is the same day for you. Before you know it, it’s time to go to bed and start all over again the next day.
Summer is supposed to be the opportune time to go out and spend money on things that you’ve been waiting to do: going out to eat with friends, going to concerts, shopping trips, day trips to the city or the shore. All of the fun things that define summer breaks all cost money, which is hard for anyone who doesn’t have an income. You’d be so willing to spend money if you at least had a little bit coming in every week. You constantly think about money- how much you have, how much you don’t have, how much you spend, and how much you can’t spend. You don’t want to miss out on doing fun things with your friends, but you also don’t want to be that person to hold back once you’re out because you’re broke. Or even worse… you don’t want to ask your parents for money.
Not working during the summer is definitely not the ideal situation. You can try to save up as much as you can during the school year, but if you don’t work over the summer, you’ll be so afraid of losing all that money you saved no matter how much it is. Sure it’s nice to take the three months of summer off to just relax after an exhausting school year, but it’s a long and boring three months without something to do every day. Hopefully if anyone was thinking of taking the summer off will change their minds after reading this, and maybe I’ll actually get a job.
