It occurred to me today that the social value of the open-source work I do in my free time has probably been an order of magnitude more useful to the world than everything I've ever done as a paid employee. Needing to seek a wage almost certainly makes me a less productive member of society than I would otherwise be.
As a retired technical writer, I think of how short-lived the usefulness of my work was. It no longer has any value at all.
The community building work I am doing now without a paycheck, though, can potentially stay useful well beyond my lifetime because of the ripple effect of building supportive relationships.