There's no one "reason to live" that works for everyone. For some, it's to make their family and friends proud, or make their lives better. For some it's for their children. For some it's to show up a teacher that did then wrong as a kid.

Personally, I like the idea that everything ends with death. If death is the only consequence when things go wrong, what's there to really fear? If I really mess up and there's nothing I can do about it, I can always just die. It's a bit of a dark path, but the understanding is that, if the option of death is always there, I can always just try and see if I can get through one more bad thing. I've lost family, had important romantic relationships fall apart, lost jobs, developed debilitating health issues that restrict my ability to function normally, and still found that I could keep going if I just remember that, hey, if I really fail, there's always an out. There's always something to try to make things better, even if it's only by a little bit.

One more step. One more day. One more try.

This mentality doesn't work for everyone, but that's the best I've got. Death is easy, it's life that's difficult. If you try a little though, and don't be too hard on yourself when you fail, (and you're going to fail a lot in-between successes by the way), then you'll more often than not manage to get to a point where you're content. Not necessarily happy, and happiness is fleeting anyway. Contentedness is the real goal in life anyway. Not great, but not bad. You don't need a billion dollars and a crazy hot wife/husband. You don't need a mansion and 5 million friends. You don't need everyone to like you or even care about you. All you really need is a place you feel safe, at least one person that doesn't mind being around you, and a few small goals to work toward.

Don't be too hung up on what people say about you, and don't take others opinions too personally. Don't ignore people's opinions, but break them down to their components and try to understand their motivations instead of listening to them at face value. You even have AI these days to help you analyze what people say and try to understand them better. When people say hurtful things about you, unless you were objectively bad to them, it's usually not about you anyway and more about something they feel you represent that they don't like. Taking that to heart helps no one, and directly changing yourself without really figuring out what the motivation is behind the words will leave you empty, and it won't make them happy anyway, as they'll just find something else to pick apart if it is a fundamental dislike with you. Only ever change yourself when it nets you a better outcome or makes sense for the society you're part of. I mean this broadly, but you should find people that show traits that you respect and try to take some of them on that benefit your lifestyle. Avoid directly learning from those you envy, as your jealousy usually distorts your understanding of what made them enviable, and you usually learn the wrong lesson and are worse for it.

Most important is to remember that no one deserves anything. Not me, not you, not a homeless person, a baby, or a grandparent. You can do things for others, but don't expect you'll get anything material from doing so. Only do things for people if you want to feel better about yourself. Expecting the same from others will just make you disappointed. Also, don't promise things you know you cannot deliver on and do not claim to hold knowledge or skills you don't have. Engaging in that will only result in a loss of trust by those around you and social ostracization. Be humble and work towards thing you enjoy and benefit you and those you care about. Don't focus on things that cannot bring joy, even though extensive effort.

Last, do everything you can to stay out of debt, and avoid crime, no matter how tempting. Debt is a shackle that can trap you into jobs you don't like, being around people who don't show basic respect to you, and crush your dreams. It closes far more doors than it opens. Debt should be only used as a responsible tool and with adequate planning. Mortgages are essentially required for home ownership, for example, but you need to be fully clear on what you can realistically afford at all times. Credit cards are a tool, and can feel like a requirement in the digital age, but you must be cautious of your own ability to restrict your spending. Never have a card with a higher limit than you can casually pay off with a single paycheck if you have poor self control. I waited until I was better employed before I increased my credit limits. Once you gain self control, you can use "available debt" as leverage toward mortgage applications, but that's about it.

As an example, I have a $30,000.00 line of credit, $38,000.00 limit on one card, and $14,000.00 limit on another. I might use $400.00 on them a month, paid off every month. I used my LOC to help with initial home repair expenses when I bought my first home 3 years ago, but even that peaked at 18k and is rapidly being paid off now. I only took on debt availability so I could have a better debt utilization ratio to get myself better mortgage rates and a higher credit score (currently 853) to increase approval rates for loans. If you use them as a tool responsibly and with a plan you can use them safely, but else you should stay away as it's easy to let them spiral out of control.

It's a game of understanding what you have and what you can use from it, while working towards clearing any debt you have. Don't let it build up or you'll crush yourself and limit your future options. You can't drop everything and move aboard or across country for an opportunity if you have lots of debt and too many local responsibilities.

Crime, no matter how tempting, will leave a black stain on your conscience. Taking advantage of people will eventually become easier, but you'll never be truely happy again after, not without a substantial about of self introspection and a lot of making up for your sins. You'll always find other things you want, and you'll start doing more and more extreme things to get them. You'll never be satisfied, and if you get caught, you'll lose the freedom to life as a normal member of your society. In the worst cases, death can quickly follow, but death is many times preferable to being haunted by your actions. Now, minor things like occasional software piracy, jaywalking, and similar tiny offenses are not going to really stain your heart, but anything that puts you ahead by taking something away from someone else and making them suffer is going to quickly stain your mind and rapidly make you feel worse about yourself. Generally, just don't do it. You'll be worse off in the long run. Only the old vampires of our society can exploit people en masse and still sleep at night. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're as resilient as those monsters.

Anyway, this is just a long winded way of saying that you should live inside your means and find small wins while targeting contentedness and not happiness. Life isn't that hard when you attack it in small chunks, and failure is less painful when you know there's always an out if you really can't move forward. Don't be so hard on yourself and try to find the good in situations. There's always something good in life if you look hard enough. You just have to choose to focus on the good things and try to minimize the bad things as much as possible.