I read the personal article. It's very good.
a staggering abundance of freedom and little meaningful opportunity
That line jumped out at me. Something my wife and I talk about often is how people seem to really struggle in the absence of clear expectations.
It's such a difficult tension to navigate, because we want people to be able to lead the lives that fulfill them. That seems to mean removing stifling norms and oppressive traditions. However, it's just not working out that way for so many people. The amount of things that each person has to discover for themselves has become oppressive and the lack of shared expectations has become stifling.