Powerful post. The thing is (at least in the western world) we have it better now than any other time in history. The world is relatively peaceful now compared to different points in history . And our medicine, communication, and transportation has is more advanced than ever before. In other words people are more empowered than ever before to do something with their lives.
The issue in my opinion is this notion of 'keeping up with the joneses'. Looking back on my experiences when I was finishing high school the norm in my community was go on to university and do your undergrad. The idea of a victory lap in high school or taking some time off was out of the question. So many friends of mine ended up going to university not with a goal in mind but because it was the respectable decision. And this issue of living your life to earn respect from others rather than doing what makes you happy is one of the biggest problems which people face today.
Hopefully if more people read posts like yours and manage to take a step back from the "daily grind" and think about the important things in life, such as what their goals are and what they really want to do then they will find genuine happiness.