This is the central struggle we are all facing throughout our lives, in different degrees: what do you hold on to, when do you let go, what do you replace it with? The local issue you have is with a career goal that has not panned out, do you hold on to the dream or do you ‘face reality’ as people in your life and here would urge you to do.

What adversity does is challenge our attachment profile. This helps the timid hoarder, who wants to keep everything, by forcing them to choose. They learn a stronger, purer, sense of self in the process. A lesson we can’t seem to learn as fast, voluntarily. Victor Frankl describes it in great detail as a holocaust survivor in Man’s Search For Meaning.

So embrace your hardship. Consider that you are exactly where you need to be in this moment, to move ahead. And make all attachments second to this - Never Give Up. But for the rest, maybe introduce flexibility, experiment more. You have an opinion on these other opportunities not being worth it, but what have you tried? You see things up close that the ruminating knee hugger simply won’t ever see by thought alone.