Often in life—especially in our increasingly globalized, westernized cultures—there’s an implicit promise of fanfare. If you just get that degree, THEN you’ll never job-hunt again. If you make that money, THEN you’ll be happy (and loved by all.) But many of us have learned better. Either we got that degree, or we made that money, or whatever, and we realized it was all a lie. We arrived at our supposed destination, only to hear crickets, as if the parade had come and gone without us, and the world kept on spinning.
This implicit promise is probably an indirect, natural consequence of consumeristic capitalism. Empty as ever. So what to do? We must create our own meaning.