Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

I stood in the midst of the world, and incarnate I appeared to
them. I found them all drunk, I found none among them athirst. And my soul was grieved for the sons of men, for they are blind in their hearts and do not see that empty they have come into the world and that empty they are destined to come forth again from the world. However, now they are drunk--when they have shaken off their wine, then shall they rethink. 

There are very many unpleasant states that occur within each person; without knowledge one can never be free of them.

Death is the return to the very beginning of one's life, with the possibility of repeating it again.

When we have many things within ourselves which are neither known nor accepted, then such things complicate our lives horrifyingly, and in fact provoke all sorts of situations which could be avoided through knowledge of ourselves.

As you go the way of life, you will come to a great chasm.  Jump.  It is not as far as you think.