moish, this reminds me of the story of a godol who, as a child, overheard his parents discussing him. They were disappointed that he was not interested in learning Torah, considered that perhaps he was not meant to be a talmid chacham, & discussed ending his schooling & apprenticing him to a local tradesman so he’d have a livelihood. Hearing how saddened his parents were at the prospect, the child told his parents he would start working at his learning. When he was much older, after the publication of one of his many seforim, he said, “What if I would have become a tradesman, & when I reached the olam ha’emes, the RBSH would have asked me what I accomplished? I would have told Him that I davened every day, conducted my business honestly, and learned occasionally, but He would have expected my seforim.”
Knowing that Hashem only expects us to do the best we can do, not the best someone else can do, is somewhat reassuring. But sometimes we don’t even know our own potential, and the thought that we might be missing it is frightening.