Writing Is Hard When You're Looking For Work

In this week's Friday Post, I talk about how job hunting is a knife in the back of my mental well-being.

Give me a JOB!

I had grand plans to sit down and write something, anything, after my 30 minutes on the treadmill. But I made the mistake of checking my email for the third time today, only to see the fourth rejection letter of the week. (Mind you, I’m writing this on Thursday.) It was another gut punch in a series of me getting my ass whooped by life whenever I open my email.

Applying for jobs and failing to get them with 10 years of experience in media and journalism—and a slew of wins many people gag over during the interviews I do get—is deeply demoralizing. At this point, job applications and the subsequent process are a necessary humiliation ritual, one where I show up as my best self only to know that, in a few weeks, they’ll “regret to inform me that after careful consideration, [they] have decided not to move forward with your candidacy for this position.”

It’s one bummer after another, and it’s been difficult to tap into the self-confidence and vulnerability needed to write. I b…