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"Think lightly of yourself, but deeply of the world."

This made me cry. I'm a nonprofit worker who feels the need to save the world, to right all its wrongs, and yet I'm acutely aware of my shortcomings and inability to have a measurable impact.

I feel as if I've been more and more crushed by my own ineptitude and growing jadedness over the years.

Read into it what you will, but this legitimately made me cry, and I'm not entirely sure why myself.

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Another formula I heard that fits your situation is "be hopeless, but not helpless". The idea ia that if you go into activism with the aim to move things and change the world, you will likely burn out fast. Because, as you mention, having a measurable impact is near impossible. So the idea is to give up the hope of making an impact, but try nonetheless. Focus on the fact of doing what feels like the right thing to do, but do not get attached to results too much. Obviously easy to say, but hard to practice.

Your emotional reaction to the saying makes me think that you know what you think is right, but maybe have difficulty not putting a lot of weight on your shoulders. This is rare and precious, so many of us find excuses for not making a lot of effort.

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