Conundrum!

Do you ever feel like the aspects of yourself that you value most are also the ones that are the most detrimental to your overall well-being? Probably not I guess, because that sounds completely crazy! Nonetheless, I feel like that is the case for me most of the time. The few things that I actually value in myself are the things that separate me from the rest of society and make it difficult for me to interact effectively with other people. My beliefs about animal rights are obviously the most apparent, but there are many other things as well; my overwhelming need for self-control, my unwillingness to conform to societal norms, my desire for strength and self-sufficiency even at the expense of femininity, etc. I was thinking recently about whether or not, if given the chance, I would sacrifice some of these things in order to improve my life. I decided that, no I would not. These things are just too important to me. Then the more I thought about it I realized that, if I didn't have those things, I probably wouldn't see the value in them and therefore wouldn't want them or miss them if they were gone. Just to be clear, I still would never EVER change the way I feel about animal rights, but those other things, perhaps.