Humbled by fate, punishment or push to right path?

Not long ago, I encountered tough "barrier" in life, tried to break through it but ended up greatly humbled and forced to take step back. This got me thinking whether I should decouple from earthly desires like career, consumerism and similar. Was my experience divine punishment (karma) or display of better way ? Note: I realize this question is not necessarily specific to one religion over other, but I think this community is more accepting to this type of question.