[sanderjd]

I'm constantly ambivalent about this...

Bear with me because it's not a perfect analogy, but it reminds me of this line from a Fleet Foxes song that landed exactly at the right (or wrong) moment in my life:

> I was raised up believing I was somehow unique ... now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

I guess where I've landed is that I try to do both. I look for things to work on that are personally interesting to me, where I can also be "a functioning cog" working toward a larger positive goal far beyond myself.

It's hard to strike that balance though! And I often wonder if I would be better off committing more fully to one or the other side of it instead.