Middle or Center?

I had a great conversation this week with a colleague about the difference between "the middle" and "the center." He was writing a speech and since we both have a love for the weight of different words it sparked quite the dialogue. 

The funny thing is, when you look up both words you will find the other in the definition. 

Dictionary.com defines Middle as: 

center, ... something from which two or more other things are (approximately or exactly) equally distant. Middle denotes, literally or figuratively, the point or part equidistant from or intermediate between extremes or limits in space or in time: the middle of a road.

And defines Center as:

the middle point, as the point within a circle or sphere equally distant from all points of the circumference or surface, or the point within a regular polygon equally distant from the vertices.

And yet, a sentence can changes its meaning simply by choosing a different word. 

I was in the middle of it all.

I was in the center of it all. (Or, I was at the center of it all.)

Middle or the road or Center of the universe? Do you think of the middle as mediocre or as crucial? How about the middle point that connects it all? 

If Life was a Dream... and it was my dream, choosing to put yourself in the middle of something is very different from putting yourself at the center of something. Make sure you know which you are doing and why. And if you happen to feel stuck in the middle, think instead of the unique vantage point that being equal distance from everything gives you.