Joan, I always like it when commenters offer a slice of their own experience.

Like you, when I moved out of corporate work and into non-profit work, I also felt good about my work again. In fact, the move energized my creativity so much, I added the public sector (to my non-profit sector work) as well. Since the private sector is where the money is, my bank account suffered, but my creativity thrived. I'm retired now, but my creative capacities are still growing strong.

In hindsight, I see that having to learn a new application for my skills, and talents, kept creativity alive, then nourished it. If I'd stayed in the private sector, working for corporations, my creativity would have died, and I would have ended up doing repetitive, meaningless work, like most everyone else I knew who sold their creativity for a living. These days, I hear those laments and regrets from creatives in the tech world all the time. Having to make a choice, between saving your creativity or making money, is a really hard choice to make.

Again, only in hindsight can I see how valuable creativity truly is, and the reason corporations insist on owning it, or killing it. As I wrote in my resume more than 40 years ago, "creativity is the ultimate tool of humanity." I am glad I saved mine.