I'm no peasant... I eat cake!

But seriously, I can understand where your friend is coming from. Especially in a creative industry, we crave recognition from others as a stand in for 'worth'. Sometimes it can be hard to step back and realise how lucky we are to be able to do what we enjoy doing as 'work'.

In the other facets of life, it is also too easy to see what is not right or what bothers is, and to be blind to the things which are really amazing in our lives that we take for granted...