“graduation equals unemployment” is always used as jest by university students, but for this year’s fresh graduates these words may convey a dark reality.
Millions of people around the world are coping with job loss caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Whether it’s temporary or permanent, unemployment can lead to stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges. Uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic only adds to the angst.
If the COVID-19 pandemic has left you jobless, you may be experiencing many emotions and troubling thoughts. For example, you may feel:
A loss of identity and sense of purpose
Unappreciated, and you may no longer feel essential
Angry, scared and jealous of others who can still work
Lost, as if you don’t know what to do next
Worried about how you’ll take care of yourself and your family and provide for basic needs
Graduating from university is always a bit of a scary transition.
You leave the comfort of full-time education, the path you have been following since you were 5 years old, and are thrust into the real world. Suddenly expected to be a real adult, find a career, make decisions, make money.
But graduating during a global pandemic is a whole new level of terrifying. On top of the normal fears that come with this huge life change, there is the added pressure of a catastrophic economic downturn, a crushing lack of jobs and unprecedented levels of uncertainty.
And the class of 2020 are feeling the full force of this horrendous situation. Their lives have been paused just as they were about to get started, and many feel as though their hopes and dreams for the future are slipping through their fingers.