Looking for a job can feel like a lonely enterprise. Despite the dozens of emails you’ve sent, the phone calls you’ve diligently forced yourself to make, and the strangers you’ve tried to befriend at LinkedIn—not to mention your heartfelt intention to do work that changes the world for the better—some days you may find yourself alone in your apartment, your inbox collecting more e-mail newsletters and your phone silent, like it forgot it belongs to you.
You may even be tempted to give in to feelings despair. And who’s to blame you if you do. There are compelling reasons that go well beyond the job search to feel down and sometimes, it’s impossible for even the best of us not to indulge them.