One of the greatest disciplines of existence, especially as we grow older, is the discipline of innocence and of keeping the sense of wonder and enlargement and surprise alive in your own heart. And the moment that you stop, in a sense, living from your innocence is the moment where you start to feel besieged by existence and the moment you need defences and walls. And no matter how high you build these walls, the encroaching sea of existence will actually scour them away. And you will somehow be revealed. But because you lived in exile from what is innocent and real about yourself, what frightens you most in life is your own happiness. I think one of the most difficult things in life is claiming your own happiness.
David Whyte, The Creative Imperative
Mindfulbalance 
It occurs to me reading this — that the cure to this and many other problems arises naturally enough when one gets very old. Whether or not one gets wiser, or “better”, or any other quality. Just living very long — so much drops away —
This is most often presented as a negative. Sometimes it is. Maybe even often.
But it also has a positive and wonderful and expansive side. I think young people might find it hopeful to know that.