identity and vocation

I feel the dream in me expire
And there's no one left to blame it on
-Seether (from "Fine Again")

It seems to me the loss of one's life dream, goal, calling significantly stifles hope. Especially when this dream is so attached to the identity of the individual in question. Mental, physical, and emotional lethargy linger when expectations are unmet and dreams are derailed. At what points are vocation and calling appropriately concentric with identity and purpose? At what points do/should they diverge?

Quote:

"The Christian vocation is to be in prayer, in the Spirit, at the place where the world is in pain, and as we embrace that vocation, we discover it to be the way of following Christ, shaped according to his messianic vocation to the cross, with arms outstretched, holding on simultaneously to the pain of the world and to the love of God." -NT Wright