I don't see my original answer so I'll try again. You don't have to be stuck in a career you hate, you can change your life at any time. Don't let anyone tell you differently; people who say that are just too scared to make the change.
I am in my 40s, as are most of my friends, and only ONE of us is doing what they went to college for. Out of about 20 people, 1 person is doing what she went to school for (teaching), 6 people never even stepped foot in the fields they have their degrees in (example 1 has a degree in criminology and has never gone near anything law or lab related she has worked as an insurance claims adjuster for years and loves it, another has a degree in psychology, has never done anything psych related, and has a successful career doing voice overs for commercials), and the rest of us worked in our chosen fields for a while but for various reasons decided to change careers. 3 went back to school and became nurses, I myself have a psychology degree and after working for 5 years in the field became disillusioned and decided to become a therapeutic recreation specialist, a field I will never be wealthy in, but that I love.
Bottom line, figure out what you like to do, and find a career which allows you to get paid to do what you love. Then make your life work around that, financially at least. I mean, you can't expect to live in a penthouse on Park Ave in NYC if you want to work in social work or a non-profit, or if you want to be a carpenter.
So if you want the wealthy lifestyle, you will have to choose a career where you make loads of money- which is ok if that is what you want and love to do.
Most full time jobs consume a good part of your life. If they don't, you probably need a partner who will work a good part of their life in order for you to have a life.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.