The goal of my post is to find out what you want, what's wrong with what you have, so you can build from that and get yourself a goal to achieve.

I did get the impression from your unedited post that you wanted to know break from the slur and make money, and I just wanted to get your mind off the money part, as it shouldn't be the focus.

The work I do is very challenging but so what, does the fact that it is difficult mean it is more worthy than easier work? Hardly.

Well, there are different kinds of challenges, and it depends on what you mean. If work requires me to think creative, requiring the most of my capabilities, I get much more gratification out of it. Work that's just doing stuff, while the actions might be difficult for the untrained, will soon get menial and unrewarding. While your work might be 'worthy' because it means a lot to other people, your work should still be rewarding to yourself. Otherwise you're just doing what others want you to do. I'd get sick of that pretty quickly.

it is always under the control of others

Since you mention freedom often, I think that's what's behind all this. Maybe you're missing a sense of agency in your worklife, that you work because you want and chose to do so, not because you have to follow some boss. Being able to pass on boring projects, like you said in your opening post.

I only have so many keystrokes left in my fingers, I seem to spend a lot of them on things that benefit others which is a good thing, but I'd like to spend some that will benefit me also :)

What gave me motivation recently was this great Zefrank video on how much time we still have left. Our time on this beautiful world is only so much, and I feel like I need to make use of it to the best of my possibilities. If that means changing my life, switching jobs, finally ditching friends I didn't like, then so be it.

Being altruistic is good, don't get me wrong, but it shouldn't govern your life. Life's too short for that.