No matter what you're doing, live it. Make an experience. Have fun. Relate to someone. Take them in. Learn.
Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.
History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn't have to get caught in that.