Our troubles keep us going.
Dreams are distorted representations of desire. So are dream- analyses.
Babies and the old are permitted self-absorption. In between, it provokes resentment.
As I review my life, I feel I must have missed the point, either then or now.
Looking backward at what has been lost, I feel sad, then indifferent, and at last relieved.
Call on literary convention, and it will gladly tell your story for you.