I read somewhere once that the only thing greater than fate is the courage to endure it. I think that M. Scott Peck starts out his book, The Road Less Traveled, with the sentence, Life is difficult. I think that he was studying Buddhism when he wrote that book. Buddhism has a lot of interesting things to say about dealing with suffering.
How we change the neural circuity of our brain is by focusing our attention. If you can focus on the present moment and external things that you are presently engaged in like washing the dishes, brushing your teeth or taking a shower your mind will be less likely to dwell on the past or worry about the future. When your mind wanders there just gently bring it back to what you intend to be your focus of attention.
I used to day dream a lot and worry about what people must think about me as I walk down the street. Now I try and just focus my attention on how the sidewalk feels on my feet and my breath and mainly keep my eyes focused on where I am walking. I notice by doing this I slowly lose my sense of self which is what you do when a person gets in the zone. My sense of self comes flooding back when I meet someone that I know or am set upon by a pack of roaming wild dogs. I carry a spray bottle half full of home made pepper spray in case of a dog attack.
Rick Hanson and his partner have some interesting things to say about our sense of self if you go to this link and then check out some of the talks under Not-Self Workshops.
http://www.wisebrain.org/tools/talks...os/neurodharma
Stan Groff wrote that sadly many people comment suicide when they really just want to commit ego-cide. It was really rough for me when I was in my 20's but the stormy weather eventually passed. Just look at it as a hero or heroin journey that you are on.