I’m 26, two years post-grad with no job, and feeling completely lost and left behind.

Hello Reddit 🙋,

I just really need to hear from anyone who has been here, because right now I feel entirely alone. I’m 26 this in less than a week and graduated two years ago. Since then, I barely been able to land a job...only 1 or 2 part-time ones. It feels like absolutely nothing is working out in my favour, no matter how hard I try.

The shame has become so heavy that I’ve been hiding the truth from my friends, pretending things are fine while only my family knows the reality. I feel like an NPC or a background character in everyone else's life, watching people my age or younger sail by with seemingly no issues while I'm stuck at zero.

I do have some great dream for my life, I always wanted to have a family of my own and even one day I want to work with wildlife and own a wildlife reserve, but right now, that dream feels like an ant trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean. It feels completely impossible from where I am standing, and I'm terrified I'm running out of time and will just waste my life.

On top of the career struggle, there’s a massive layer of pressure I feel as a guy. I’ve grown up believing that a man’s value is entirely tied to what he can provide, build, and share financially and structurally. Because I’m at zero, I feel like I have no right to date or engage with people romantically. I've completely cut myself off from that because I feel like I can’t offer anyone a stable life yet, and it makes me feel like I don't even deserve to try. It reinforces this feeling of being an "NPC" or a background character...hiding from attention because I don't feel like I fit the image of someone people should respect or listen to.

I'm just so exhausted from the constant rejection and feeling like I have no value because I can't provide or find stability. Has anyone else felt this stuck in their mid-20s and managed to find their way out? How do you keep going when you feel like you're starting from less than zero?