In this article, we examine young people’s attachments to neoliberalism and how these are at play in their perceptions of their possibilities to enact positive futures and a ‘good life’. Drawing on the concept of ‘master narratives’, we have analyzed 21 interviews with young people aged between 19 and 23 (7 young men, 14 young women). Our participants believed in the possibility of achieving a happy life in the future if they just studied hard enough and developed the necessary skills and traits. This left little or no room for competing activities as it was seen as either an obstacle to their studies or simply did not contribute to their life project in a meaningful way. However, their narratives also contained a darker side in which our participants displayed a high level of stress and mental anguish, sometimes even manifesting itself in physical form. Despite evidence of the adverse effects on their well-being, our participants displayed a strong attachment to neo-liberalism’s promises of a good future.