If you understand yourself, then you really don't have to understand a whole lot else... Most people go along in life without truly trying to understand themselves or their place in the intergalactic cosmos. But really... The meaning is all sitting right between your ears... That is where reality is generated. If things are uncomfortable or hard to deal with between your ears then you have to find sustainable ways to make your life copacetic. This can't be done through drugs, alcohol, pills etc..
It must be done naturally. We cannot be addicted or dependent on anything that will cloud our spirit longterm. It's important for us to take our own spiritual health seriously. The condition of our minds must be clear and hopefully constructively pure. That means not putting anything into the mind that was created to bring disharmony. This is a case by case thing, but overall there are many things that create mental darkness/disharmony so this might be a far more difficult task than just abstaining from the substances that calm people in modern America. Just realizing that no matter where you are or what circumstances you are in that peace is possible.
If you can maintain this peaceful state of being, it will permeate everything around you. If you find yourself getting aggravated/agitated ask yourself what is really causing it. Is it others around you? Many times it is... Or is it something within yourself that you are not ok with. You can then pick apart your mind piece by piece and start to put together a holistic lifestyle that helps you maintain your internal peace. Many people have this down pat, so if that's you, disregard. But there are many who still have to find that baseline happiness. This baseline can come through positive routines, mentally wholesome actives and devotion to principles that are higher than one's self.
Self-understanding is a lifelong quest. No matter what crazy train is going on in reality, if you have peace within yourself you will always move forward on your own spiritual quest... This is one of the great secrets of nature... Nature knows that things will come and go, so it doesn't fret... Humans can learn much from the calmness and the dogged determination of nature on the whole...