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comment by joelg236
joelg236  ·  4389 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: All My Life I've Been Told I Was Special. It Was A Lie.

In a sense, you are very special. In many other senses, you are probably not. It's mostly about what you see as special. If you expect to be significant or world-changing, the odds are slim. It's kind of depressing in some ways, but it sure does take a lot of that pressure I had as a kid. (eg. if you don't do everything perfectly, you'll be a failure)





thenewgreen  ·  4389 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    If you expect to be significant or world-changing, the odds are slim
I would disagree. The odds can be quite great that your life will be significant and even world changing to someone or even some people. What is unlikely is that you will be "famous". I fully expect that my life will be significant to some friends and family and certainly to my daughter. Hopefully, my life can have a positive impact on people beyond that sphere. But if I were to judge my worth based on "fame", chances are I'll be disappointed.
joelg236  ·  4388 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I fully agree with that. When talking about being "world-changing", I was mostly referring to being highly influential for a large amount of people. I find optimism in the fact that I can change the life of people around me.

thenewgreen  ·  4388 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I have nothing to base what I'm about to say on... but it's my guess that if you were either:

1. highly influential (positively) on a small set of peoples lives that you interacted with intimately

or were

2. highly influential in general but never intimately engaged with those you influenced

you would be happier as the former.

joelg236  ·  4388 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think that could be true, but like you, have nothing to base that on. It may just depend on their personality more than anything.