Optimus2g

Wish furfillment- probably.
Jungian compensation- there ya go.

If you are feeling that unhappy with your life, if you are feeling suffocated by society and unfulfilled, if teaching isn't something that makes you feel passionate, or the system surrounding it is killing your enthusiasm for it, there is only one thing for you to do. Take a look, deeply within yourself and figure out what it is that makes you happy. Whatever it is that you figure out, no matter what it is, and whether or not you've even ever been able to do it before, that is what your soul is telling you to pursue, and you must follow that. If you do not, if you seriously reflect on it till you know for certain what it is that will make you happy, and you do not pursue it, your life will be over before it even begins. You have to follow your soul. But think about it carefully first. Because there are aspects of society, of civilized life, that can get annoying at times, I mean, civilization is by definition something that imposes limitations on your desires. But there is a tradeoff there, and what you get out of it can be very great. But it is never easy. You have to sacrifice something for anything that you want, including, in fact especially, freedom. So think about the things you want the most. Think about whether what you are doing with your life right now is something that fulfills you, despite its sacrifices. If not, then choose a new path, embark on a new journey. That is without a doubt the hardest thing to do in life, it is the thing that most people are terrified of doing, and that causes them to trade their happiness, their existence, their souls for something they really don't want. It is a fearfull thing, to embark on a new journey, because it is always fraught with pitfalls, uncertainties, and hardships. But believe me, nothing you can face outwardly, nothing you will ever have to endure from the world, can ever be as monstrous and as hellish as the torture that comes from within, from your soul confronting you with the realization that you yourself have damned yourself, suffocated yourself, because you were unwilling to be bold, because you were conquered. It is better to die than to be a slave. To be a slave to fear, to guilt, to stagnation. The things on the outside of yourself can never make you a slave. It is yourself that accepts slavery, it is yourself that makes you a slave. If a man is chained to a rock all of his life, but in his heart he is free because he has found something in this world to live for, that makes his hardship bearable, then he is free. But men put shackles on their souls everyday because they are afraid. Because they are weak, and lazy, and inert, and fearful, and as Shakespeare says would "rather endure the hell they have than fly to others they know not of." But I tell you that there is no hell so bad as that of your own making. This is the central motif in Dante's Inferno. The prisoners in hell are punished by their own sins, by their own actions. Their tortures are just the physical metaphor of their personalities. The inconstant are blown about without root, the wrathful fight with themselves perpetually, the prideful have no warmth, no love, and freeze in a river of their own icy tears. And do you know the fate of the suicides? They are trees, planted in a cold and barren earth, bearing no fruit. They are stuck in their own stagnation, because they feared life. Because suffering caused them to turn cold to it, to stop moving, to stop struggling. That is what happens in the soul to people who give up. And people everyday, it is the tragedy of our age, give up on life, give up on their dreams, on their happiness, and condemn themselves to a living death. If your trip to work has become a "trip in a metal coffin," if the things you endure have truly caused you to not be able to find fulfillment in what you are doing, if you look about your world and you see before you a wasteland, then it is not the things outside of you that have made you lose your fulfillment. What you are doing with your life is not fulfilling you in the first place. Some people living in the desert are happier than the richest kings in Europe. But if you are not fulfilled in your life, then everything is a wasteland, and you need a change. Think about what it is that you need to feel fulfilled, and then go out and search for it. The journey itself, you will find, will be the fulfillment you were seeking all along. It won't be easy, but whatever the outcome of your struggle, it will be better than burning in a hell of your own making, rotting a prison with an open door.

thanks for the advice; it is much appreciated--especially from you guys because we're all facing similar dilemnas, for the most part.

The metal coffin metaphor wasn't specific, it was just a general statemement, but I get the jist of what you're sayin' here. I feel fatigued sometimes and just get frustrated, but there are others who are WAY worse off than I am, so at least I can take solace in the fact that things aren't as bad as they seem. At least on these blogs we can actually vent out these frustrations, rather than continually have them stew inside us.