How liberating could it be to break free from those chains and forget about everyone else? This feeling only seems to come momentarily for me.

I experience this fleetingly as well, but I am attempting to view this as a victory. In the past, it would have been mortifying to discredit everyone else; I had spent my whole life carefully building the different facets to face each person, to mirror them for approval. Now, I'm building a habit, rewiring my brain to not keep following the usual path, and every time I experience an additional break in the midst of my day, it's a definite win. This is also how I view moments of observing consciousness mindfully.

To your counterview in the second part, I think it is vital that we can collectively acknowledge just how much we rely on one another in the modern society (which I consider to be fantastic, when each individual maintains their freedom). An even more important acknowledgement following of "I am not special for having applied this collective knowledge". This is not say we should not be grateful for the opportunity to act, or have pride for what value we create, but to not believe others less for not. It can become easy to apply the more stoic viewpoint when there is challenge, but the practice shows most benefit when exercised in both extremes. Our collective wobbles back and forth, reveling in both directions of the swing, requiring greater amplitude to enjoy the same level of excitement.