Making the most out of your life even when circumstances are less than ideal is not some sort of ad-hoc consolation prize invented by motivational speakers. It’s literally the only possible way for our species to survive.
At any given moment, life will be exactly as you wish it to be or it will be something else. Most of us have lots of moments that fall into the “something else” category.
Unless you’re content with sitting around and waiting for the world to perfect itself, you’ll have to settle for the one strategy that actually has some history behind it: conducting your life as if it’s not a total waste of time to treat your creative power as if it matters.
Don’t worry. This doesn’t meant you’ll have to join Oprah’s book club and start listening to motivational speeches every morning. All you need to do for now is start questioning the anti-human idea that you’re incapable of making a difference.
Sometimes your best efforts will fail to work, but they will always work better than your refusal to make an effort.