Hey man, I’m sorry you’re feeling that way. I can absolutely relate to all of that. The way things are going in the world is certainly making things feel darker than ever.

If these are of any consolation I’d like to share them; they are a few realizations that I’ve come to over time, and that I try to bring myself back to when I start feeling those feelings:

• I can’t control the world. There are things in motion that I simply won’t be able to affect, set that way long before I ever came along, and that ball will keep rolling long after I’m gone.

• I’m not a failure for not becoming a millionaire, famous musician, successful executive; for not having the relationship I wanted by this point; or whatever high standards I held my future self to. I know more than that person did, and that person, compared to me, had a very naive outlook on how things will or ought to be.

• You are up against the most advanced technologies we have ever created; the most conniving of villains; the world pollutions; the greatest wage gap in human history; inflation is skyrocketing and unemployment is too; we are in a great recession; we are more isolated than at any time in our history. You are not a failure for struggling!

• I’m going to die one day, but I’m here right now. The ride will end; I don’t need to get off of it early, and I can experience things like awe and wonder while I’m here.

I am not a failure for these things. My only fault was ever thinking that I, the world, my life, should be so perfect; and even then, being wrong is expected of us. We are dreamers. Don’t be so hard on yourself, you are doing so great.