Millennial ennui. It’s a tone. It can be writing. It can be a mood. I took it as writing, though. Here’s what ChatGpt told me it is:
Millennial ennui is a fancy way of saying existential boredom, disillusionment, or emotional fatigue, particularly as experienced by people born roughly between 1981 and 1996. It’s a kind of “meh” feeling—restless, vaguely dissatisfied, and tired of the world, but also self-aware and often laced with dry humor or irony.
I didn’t have this when I was younger. At least an old blog post I found didn’t reflect this. I was ridiculously optimistic. I hate reading my optimism in this.
I want to say this was written in about 2010. Lindsey and were married in 2009. After marriage, we moved in together. I moved into her apartment. She had a roommate. We figured we’ll probably need our own place. I had a fresh diploma in hand and I thought it would be just a matter of time before I landed an internship, or an entry level job somewhere in town. That didn’t happen. 2009 was about the time when the Great Recession was really kicking it into gear. The economy was really suffering.
I wasn’t tracking economic data at the time. (Even though my fresh diploma in my hands had the word “Economics” on it.) So, I’d like to look back for a moment. Maybe I can find that data and see really what I was dealing with at the time. If I know what the data says, it can help me tell the story through my eyes a bit better.
I think there are a few indicators that could help me tell my story. Unemployment data. Unemployment is calculated by taking the number of unemployed individuals and dividing that by the total labor force. It tells us how many people are willing to work, and are looking for work but can’t find work.
When I graduated, I was eager. I was ready. I was looking. Yes, I lacked direction in a huge way. I didn’t know exactly where to look. I didn’t know how to make connections with people. I didn’t know how to market and sell myself. What I had were basic skills. I had what the career office at my university gave me. I had a resume template. I had websites of job boards for the big employers in the community. I had cover letters drafted.
And I dropped applications. Lots of applications. Millions maybe. Billions. Billions and billions. Well, that’s an exaggeration. It felt like billions and billions.
Point is. I could not find a job. I could not even land an interview. I quit my pizza delivery job and the best I could do was an interview at the Starbucks in my neighborhood. I remained optimistic. I thought this might be a good way for me to get my foot in the door with a big corporation. I would work behind the counter pulling shots of espresso and steaming milk and they’d see my excellent work ethic and my degree and guide me to the corporate office in Seattle.
Yeah. That wasn’t the case. I mostly cleaned toilets. Made some coffee. Woke up at 4:00am. Collected my tips at the end of the week. (A good week was maybe $60, a shit week was $12 to $15.) And no job offers from the Seattle office. No hiring bonus. No relocation. Just $7.25/hr. Make coffee. Clean toilets. Apply for jobs. Apply. Apply. Apply.
Silence.
No call backs. No interviews. Nothing. I wasn’t tracking at the time, but I have a feeling the state of the economy had a bit to do with my miserable job hunt.
Ok. Economic data. My job hunt began in 2009. That’s when I quit my pizza delivery job. Unemployment rate.
Here’s a quick analysis I got from Perplexity AI:
**Unemployment Rate**
- In the United States, the unemployment rate hit 10.0% in the last quarter of 2009, the highest level since the early 1980s[6].
- The number of unemployed people age 16 and over reached 15.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2009[6].
- For young workers (under 25), the situation was even worse: one in four unemployed workers was under 25[4].
- The employment-population ratio fell sharply to 58.4%, the largest annual drop since records began in 1948[6].
## Why Was It So Hard to Find a Job?
- The financial crisis that began in late 2007 led to a severe recession, peaking in 2009, which dramatically reduced hiring across almost all sectors[1][6].
- Employers were cutting jobs rather than hiring, and new graduates faced especially tough competition for the few available positions[4][6].
- The sharp increase in unemployment and the plummeting employment-population ratio meant fewer opportunities for everyone, but especially for those just entering the labor market[4][6].
Me again. So yeah, not only was the job market bad, it happened to peak in badness just as I was really desperate to find a job. Wonderful.
I’ve been here for too long. I’m going to go do my job. Here’s my ridiculously optimistic blog post from about 2010.
So we're doing the apartment hunt. Lindsey is looking at different properties on craigslist. We've found dome really sweet places so far. Unfortunately, the one we really had our eye on was rented today. So sad. It was downtown right next to Flying Star and Java Joe's. I love Java Joe's! So the search continues... We still hope to find a place downtown; an older building with hardwood floors and an old heater. Oh, I'm so excited to pick out our place!
Other things are going great. We've been living with the Freeman's for the past month or so. It's been great getting to know Lindsey's parents more. We've had the opourtunigy to have breakfast almost every morning with them. I really apriciTe the guidance they have to offer. It's great to have loving in-laws. Along with the wisdom my dad and mom offer, there's no way we can not succeed.
I feel content at the moment. I feel like I'm learning more a oh life. I still want to know more still. I've learned a lot from our failed coffee shop, I've learned more about saving money, being frugal when we need to be. I'm enjoying my new job so far. In my position I am assisting with the representative payee responsibility we have at a case management/legal guardianship firm. I'm learning more and more terms about the field all the time. Terms like SSI, SSDI, DD waiver, fiduciary, conservator, and much more. I'm getting along just fine so far, I hope it works out for a while. We're a small company of seven employees. We're expected (by the owner) to grow much larger.
This weekend we had the opportunity to go camping! We went up to a beautiful spot by Fenton Lake in the Jemez Mountains. (Ryan, if you read this, our elevation was approx. 7800 ft. above sea level.) The land up there is so gorgeous! It's lush and cool and there are so many giant trees. So many different types of evergreen trees and aspens. I hate it when people assume New Mexico is just a brown spot on the map. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the arid parts of the state, but there are thousands and thousands of acres of lush beautiful forest here too! We had a great time with Erin and friends. It's so nice to see people happy. Especially them!
Here's a funny thing too: I'm really enjoying being back in NM and ABQ, but I kinda miss MO. That's being human for you! I miss the powerful weather and the vibe I had. I was alone, but it was a good alone. I needed time to think, time to pray. I needed MO. But I'm home, and I'm happy to be back. Who knows, maybe we'll find ourselves back in the Show Me State. Doubtfull. If we relocate I want to be in Oregon.
Yum, and it looks like it's going to rain again. I hope it unleashes on us. I love monsoon season. Intersting fact: Albuquerque receives more precipitation in the months of July and august than P-town.
Sources
[1] [PDF] OECD Employment Outlook 2009 – Tacking the Jobs Crisis https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2009/09/oecd-employment-outlook-2009_g1ghb2df/empl_outlook-2009-en.pdf
[2] Job losses caused by the Great Recession - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_losses_caused_by_the_Great_Recession
[3] 5 - Labour market and wage developments in 2009 https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/european_economy/2010/ee5_en.htm
[4] Labor market closes 2009 with no sign of robust jobs recovery https://www.epi.org/publication/jobs_picture_20100108/
[5] Unemployment reached highest level on record in 2009: Somavia ... https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/unemployment-reached-highest-level-record-2009-somavia-calls-same-policy
[6] [PDF] The labor market in 2009: recession drags on https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2010/03/art1full.pdf
[7] Employment during the 2007–2009 recession : The Economics Daily https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2011/ted_20110504.htm
[8] [PDF] The Recession of 2007–2009: BLS Spotlight on Statistics https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2012/recession/pdf/recession_bls_spotlight.pdf
[9] OECD Employment Outlook 2009 https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2009/09/oecd-employment-outlook-2009_g1ghb2df.html
[10] Civilian unemployment rate - Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-unemployment-rate.htm