Up until a few years back, I was long term unemployed. 2-3 years or so, it was pretty grating, but I tried to make the best of it, learning new skills, practicing and playing a shitload of WoW. The latter part wasn't exactly helpful, to be honest. I'd been through numerous government training and employment schemes but coupled with my depression and my lacking recent employment history, not many people were willing to take me on.

I had spent a lot of this time approaching local design agencies and web dev studios (of which there are a lot in my area) for internships and the like, rarely ever met with a response, let alone a "thank you, but no," so I kept plodding away.

Eventually, someone responded to my enquiry, a small design agency with a few fairly big clients, they offered me an unpaid internship working 3 or so days a week to build up some experience. As much as I came to learn they were exploiting me (I was there well over a year, eventually working for minimum wage), I still do owe them a hell of a lot. Getting back into the swing of things, doing something that I loved gave me my confidence back, I learned to trust my skills and that I am good at what I do.

From that point on, literally every changed in my life. I came off the anti-depressants, found a new girlfriend, got a new house and now have a new job making decent money for a company I really enjoy. As much as I may bitch and moan about how that agency took the piss so much with me, the chance that they took on me turned my life around.