At 23 you can have some grand projects, but part of being well-rounded is dealing with seemingly insignificant stuff. We all have to come up with our own ideas

At 23 you can have some grand projects, but part of being well-rounded is dealing with seemingly insignificant stuff. We all have to come up with our own ideas about where the threshold should be, and it can be lots of trial and error with differing trade-offs. If you're good at specialized work then you're probably set long term, which far outweighs short-term confirmation. Maybe nobody will ever value you as you do yourself, but if you keep focusing on improving your skills, you can rely on your own valuations to an extent, enough not to get shaken easily anyway.