I just regarded it as a non-thing...bad luck. I've even felt that I had a false sense of entitlement to think I deserved to succeed, but you said it in your intro video....we were taught that if we were good at something and we were willing to put in the work, then we could find success.
I fully pursued that idea. I've been left wondering when and where the right opportunity would present itself as all the while I've put one foot in front of the other, learned new things, and lived by refusing to give up.
To hear someone else validate these struggles has been an emotional release. Perhaps I'm not crazy after all.
Feel validated. Seriously. We are a small sandwich generation and almost none of us got what we worked for. At first we had to suffer our parents shame about it and hear all sorts of stupid comments about how the competition must be hard...but where there was real, fair competition I did good...and there were no more real jobs period. There are a lot of articles out there about us so if you feel down just look. We are not alone but haven't said much out of shame but the world we live in is so extremely different than the previous generation. It's that way for artists, singers, writers, photographers, journalists etc. Most positions are freelance or temporary guest positions. There is no safety or dignity in this...and as I told another gen Xer above...when you feel bad go watch a John Hughes movie and listen to some Depeche Mode and The Cure and the world will feel right again. <3