The pressure to have your life figured out as a young girl can be paralyzing. It feels as though you have all the time in the world while simultaneously you compare yourself to your peers who seem to have everything already figured out. What if I’m not making the right decision? What if by choosing one path I am losing out on another? This indecision can feel isolating because you may feel as though you are on your own, you’re becoming an adult and you no longer have as many people to lean on for support. The void is a feeling of emptiness or nothingness that disconnects us from those around us and ourselves. In my experience, this manifests as loneliness and confusion about my life and my future, something that many twenty-somethings can relate to. The unknown can be scary and filled with questions, but there is a sense of relief that comes with knowing this is a universal experience. 

Recently, a genre of literature has been growing in popularity: women and the void. Women authors are contemplating the meaning of existence and exploring the idea of happiness pertaining to women, creating relatable and relevant novels. One of these books is My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, tired of the world and aided by medication, a young woman hibernates in the hope of sleeping for an entire year and waking up reborn. Moshfegh perfectly captures the exhaustion of everyday life and one woman's desire to escape it. 

Blowouts and balayages, designer brands, expensive workout subscriptions, heels that cut up your feet — women are constantly under pressure to keep up with a fast and ever-changing trend cycle, it is impossible to reach happiness when happiness comes only as a result of having everything. In spite of the narrator's life falling apart, she reassured herself, “I still looked pretty.” Even on her worst days, she knew she could rely on her appearance for solace. Young women place so much of their personal value and happiness on appearance, seeking validation from external entities. Yet, happiness will never be achieved if there is always a need for more, for the next ‘best’ thing. The desire for material goods is something that is so relatable to many young women, and Moshfegh perfectly encapsulates how confining this desire can feel — because it is always present, even subconsciously. 

Similarly, Silvia Plath’s fig-tree analogy in The Bell Jar represents the indecision every woman faces in her twenties. This analogy perfectly captures the feeling of the void during our youth, “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig-tree in the story. From the tip of every branch a wonderful future beckoned and winked.” There are endless possibilities for the future, and while this can be promising, it can also be daunting. Carrying this burden of deciding the rest of your life is taxing,  “I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig-tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest.” In our young adulthood, everything is up in the air, and many of us have no idea what the future holds. The pressure we feel to make the correct decisions amidst uncertainty can be unsettling.

This genre of literature has been gaining readership because it explores the existential questioning that is so prevalent for many women in their twenties. Women authors are creating community through relatable stories capturing what it feels like to be a young woman, which at times can be inexplicable. Happiness is not something that is easily defined nor objective, but books like The Bell Jar and My Year of Rest and Relaxation give a peek into the minds of young women and their personal pursuit of happiness.