It's the season of good cheer and all that, but there's still plenty of bitterness out there. And where better to unearth people's sad feelings than Twitter?

In the past few weeks, many recent graduates have had to make their first student loan payments (the most common student loan product has a grace period that ends six months after graduation), so some borrowers shared their feelings about this new life experience.

Well just paid my first student loan... This is going to take forever to pay off

— TAY (@Taylor_Traywick) December 7, 2015

It won't actually take forever, but that's probably not much comfort to the millions of people who have to put large chunks of their paychecks toward their debts for the first decade of their working lives, if not longer. These tweets from the last couple of weeks give a good sense of how depressing it can be to have years of loan payments ahead of you.

Made my first student loan payment today. Only 35 years until I'm projected to pay them off!!!!! #collegeinamerica — Lexy (@lexcurtin) December 15, 2015

I just got depressed at the grand total of my student loans from all my college. Undergrad won't be paid off till 2028. :(

— Nicole (@sspaz1000) December 12, 2015

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Some people have a sense of humor about it, though the jokes are a little dark:

Whenever I get eager to apply for grad school, I get my undergraduate student loan emails and think "lol JK nevermind." — Julia Jester (@JuliaaJesterr) December 7, 2015

Whenever I feel old, I simply remind myself that 28 years remain on my student loan repayment.

— Cyrus Shepard (@CyrusShepard) December 10, 2015

Student Loan Repayment Plan: Fake my own death and move to Costa Rica — Kadmiel Vander (@Kadmielv) December 15, 2015

And then there's the stuff that's just upsetting. 

My student loan debt is $25k+ more than my annual gross income. Even income-based repayment is too much -- I have other bills to pay here!! — Danielle Rene (@orclev87) December 7, 2015

When I reached out to Cyrus Shepard, he responded with this sobering fact:

@writingbikes Great! How about this: I'll be 73 years young when my student loans are paid off in 2044 :) pic.twitter.com/2gmvtlfeuD — Cyrus Shepard (@CyrusShepard) December 16, 2015

As unpleasant as that sounds, that's the reality of student loan debt. It's rarely discharged in bankruptcy, meaning you have to pay it off eventually or suffer the consequences of default: debt collectors, a bad credit score, wage garnishment, lost tax refunds and even Social Security garnishment. (You can see how your student loans are impacting your credit scores for free on Credit.com.) If you have a student loan debtor on your gift list, maybe consider getting him or her some cash. 

@lahnnydee All I want for Christmas is my loans to be paid off.... :( #StudentLoans — Rachel Finkbeiner (@RachFinkbeiner1) December 10, 2015

More on Student Loans:

• How Student Loans Can Impact Your Credit
• Can You Get Your Student Loans Forgiven?
• A Credit Guide for College Graduates

Image: shironosov