So many of us can tie up our sense of validation to our external environment: our job (or school), who we associate with and what people think of us, the things we buy, our bodies, the things we can share on Facebook, any of the conventional indicators of social status. What's even more challenging is that one's job has historically been the foundation upon which humans build their families, communities, and lives. In environments where jobs are no longer a given, our generation has been left with the status update as our status update.
The more challenging journey, but more rewarding one, is finding ways to create an internal environment that we're proud of: one that doesn't let people control our emotions, that isn't a slave to the emotions that cause us to use food, drugs or alcohol as self-medication, an environment that acknowledges how little is in our control, and how unrealistic it is to bear the burden of being responsible and at fault for everything bad in your life. One where we can cultivate habits that make us humbly serve and celebrate others, and in as many moments as possible, be thankful that the universe permitted us the chance to be alive and to do it.
I'm not there yet, but this is beyond the desert I'm walking through.