How to be OK with it, corollary

I think the next thing you have to do is realize that you're nothing special.

When I was a kid my mother always said that she saw me as a politician's wife because I was smart and loved a good debate, or a news anchor because I could really shine in front of a crowd. I wanted nothing more than to be the next child star on "Little House on the Prairie," follow in the footsteps of Samantha Smith in bringing an end to the cold war, and, eventually, be a famous* political activist and author.

At some point you look up and realize that you're just an ordinary person who is leading an ordinary life and that what you do is just a job. To make more of it than that is pure arrogance.

*Further, you realize that famous is probably the wrong word. After all, Durkheim, Noam Chomsky, Thurgood Marshall -- these names are largely unknown in society-at-large.