i don't have anything to add, but i too am one of those that can't "settle" for the usual stuff. i walked away from a $100k-a-year job a little over a year ago

i don't have anything to add, but i too am one of those that can't "settle" for the usual stuff. i walked away from a $100k-a-year job a little over a year ago -- and i live in tennessee, where $100k goes a lot farther than in the bay area -- because it was killing me. i've tried various things since then, none of them very lucrative. i am now once again dependent on the generosity of my relatives to get along. but i don't regret quitting. i always manage to come back from the dead somehow, usually into an even better situation than the one i left.