I don't know the exact details and I'm not going to look them up, but there was a study where rats were placed in water, and they needed to swim to survive. Some would swim to the bottom to try and find an exit before giving up, continuing to tread water, and die within a short space of time.
If the same rats were removed before they died and then placed back in the water they would keep swimming for much, much longer. Something like 80 hours in some cases.
I guess the study indicates that our ability to keep going is vastly improved if we know that someone will come and save us. Having something to work to rather than an open ended period of waiting for an inevitable doom gives us some strength.
What if no one else is going to help?
I am not a rat. And I know I have everything I need to start building and changing my life for the better. So why is it so difficult to just climb out of the water?