I just read about external motivation and how it contributes to stress. It turns out that people with internal motivation survive stressful situations better. This could be turned into a learning experience instead of a bummer. I just went through a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course and we talked about being a human being rather than a human doing. It was amazing what that little course did for all kinds of people with various issues. And it worked really fast. People can change. You are not necessarily locked into to anything. And external motivations have their place so they aren't universally bad.