Just in case anyone is still following this thread I'm gonna thow my two'pennorth in!
In my experience, how you handle the SH*T that happens to you depends on two things.
1. Whether you actually suffer from a physical depressive illness ; or
2. Your expectations of life.
The first is a subject for another thread I think. The second is the real reason so many people feel 'unhappy' with the way their life has / is working out.
The majority of people reach adulthood with a series of 'programmes' embedded in their heads - whether they've conciously put them there or not. The expectations of parents, the aspirations of peer groups, the promises of teachers, the opinions of lovers.
We are bombarded with instructions, guidance, rules from the moment we are first born which - usually - teach us we will be happy if we........., we will be succesful if we........, we will be loved if we.......... Our expectations of life and the patterns which dictate how we pursue those expectations are set by others. Disappointment will happen when the actions we take do not result in the promised happiness, respect, love or when, despite doing what we've been 'told' things still go wrong!
The main cause of unhappiness is when we do something not just because we want to do it but because we will receive praise, approval, love, promotion etc. That implies you do what you do for the need to have another person recognise it and respond the way you want them to!
You can't dictate anothers response. You can't govern the way someone else percieves something. To do a thing for those reasons leaves you vulnerable to THEIR patterns, lessons, expectations! Is it any wonder that, generally, people are mostly unhappy with their lives?