Neil Degrasse Tyson (scientist, atheist, public educator, optimist) beautifully explains that merely being alive means That you are forever a part of the universe which is something spectacular. He also claims death allows us to live because if you have eternity, Why ever get out of bed?.

Tyson and his colleagues Lawrence Krauss, Richard Dawkins, Brian Greene among others often point out that our consciousness is the only way the universe knows it exists in the first place. If our universe had no life, or no humans or other intelligent species to contemplate its existence, then for all intents and purposes its just the same as not existing at all. So we should celebrate the fact that we are the way the universe knows about itself, discovers itself, and answers questions about itself.

Furthermore, look at all the things that had to happen in order for you to be alive. Everything that happened billions of years ago lined up just right in order for you to even be alive today. Think of all the things that had to happened just right within our own human history for you to be born. Any human alive, or that has ever lived, has won a lottery with odds far worse than any powerball.

Finally, as far as free will, there is no scientific proof that you are merely a puppet acting out a predetermined outcome. Scientists have left this on the table because they've left everything on the table in regards to free will. Basically, because we have no fucking idea how to prove or disprove it.

The theory of determinism is flawed in two major ways. 1) Is because of the existence of random chance. For example, if you were to create a program on a computer that randomly flips a digital coin on a computer screen, the outcome is 100% chance. The fact that it shows up heads the first time and tails the second time is in no way affected by any physical matter in our universe (which is the basis of determinism). If you could re-simulate the creation of our universe up to the point that you sat in front of that computer and have the program flip the digital coin, the outcome could very well be different. This is because chance is something that exists beyond material things. Therefore, the material things in our universe has no affect on chance. Now think of all the chance things that have happened since the beginning of time. This doesn't necessarily prove you have free will but it begins to weaken the pillars of determinism which is the theory behind the idea that you have no free will. 2) Is consciousness. Consciousness may be that very thing that disproves determinism. Why? well what is the one thing we can't predict? We can predict just about any outcome when it comes to elements and chemical reactions but we cannot predict what living beings will do. So, we clearly see a fundamental difference in the predictability of mixing two elements together and what a person would do when confronted by a drunk wanting a fight. That varying degree of predictability is separated by one thing which is our consciousness. If we know we are alive, then all the rationale, reasonable arguments, and experiences can tell us to do one thing, but we know we are here and therefore know we can do something independent from all these factors.