Self introspection is tripe. Decide who you want to be, and do your best to be that person. Be accountable for your desisons and learn from your mistakes. Simple. Hard to execute maybe, but the plan is simple.
You talked about how lazy we have become, that laziness is what leads people to pontificate and spend years defining the meaning of "life". Guys living on the bare edges of existence, working their ass off for every scrap of food don't sit around thinking about what it all "means". They know what it means. It means waking up the next morning and providing for yourself/family/tribe/what ever.
The whole "live life to the fullest and blaze your own path" thing is great, as long as you don't leave other people in your path suffering for your mistakes and cleaning up your mess. Nothing pisses me off more than that sort of guy who around the age of 40 decides that he needs to "do it his way" and leaves a wife and a couple of small children in his wake of self fricking discovery.
Whats life about? Accountability. Being able to look yourself in the mirror and know that you are a good person. Knowing the people you have let depend on you, CAN depend on you. Giving more than you take.