"You do the little job you're trained to do.
"Pull a lever.
"Push a button.
"You don't understand any of it, and then you just die."
-Fight Club, pg 2

There are two types of feeling small that I have encountered. One is inferred from the quote at the top, that is the feeling of being a small and disposable part of a larger whole. This type of "small" offers no security, no comfort and no future. This is being a small unskilled pawn in a large company. You toil away on your once piece of the whole, and then you're gone. You can easily be replaced, you are not important, you are not unique. You have no chance for advancement and no bargaining chips. There are millions just like you, waiting for someone to die off or leave. Some people are very happy in this position. It certainly requires no real creative exertion to maintain this type of "smallness." But there is some allure to it, you punch in, pull your lever, and punch out. It is very easy to compartmentalize. Home is home, work is work, and never the two shall meet. Each player in this group is simply a cog in the greater machine.

The other kind of "small" is more fulfilling. You are a small, but important part of a greater whole. If you aren't there, or aren't contributing, the project isn't complete. It doesn't have as much to do with personal skill as it has to do with creative input and feeling of value. I have only experienced this a few times. It feels like being a piece of a greater puzzle. There is a greater picture and you are a small, but important part. This is the much rarer of the two kinds of small. 


How do you feel small today?