What's more powerful -- me or my paycheck?

I took a leave of absence from my corporate career as a business consultant for Accenture so I could re- balance my life/work.  Over and over on the plane, at the client site, in meeting after meeting I kept thinking, "I'd rather be playing with dogs."  It's an easy distraction to have when conference calls drone on, emails pour in, and the rigmarole of corporate processes and politics begin to keep you from actually getting any work done.  

Averaging 12 hour days, checking and responding to emails throughout the weekend, and facing a holiday season with restrictions on when I could actually take the paid time off I have far too much saved up of, I needed a break.  

Lucky for me, Accenture offers 'Future Leave' as an opportunity to take a work-break.  As my HR Rep told me, most people use this to supplement paternity leave, or travel the world.  I am something of an anomaly doing it to satisfy that burning question "Can I really change the world?"  

No one has asked me if I miss the day to day of my job -- most of them want to take a break too.  But a few have hinted at whether I miss the paycheck by subtly asking, “Are you still getting paid while on Leave?”  In one way I do not miss that paycheck at all because I know it’s tied to those 12-hour days.  In another way, I miss the power that paycheck brings with it. 

Business consulting pays well, especially when you make Executive as I did this year.  Although I’ll never be independently wealthy or able to retire early, I don’t worry at the check out stand, or when my husband and I determine we need a new piece of furniture it’s more a matter of finding what we want, and not worrying about how to afford it.  That, in this culture, is power.

Volunteering at the shelter, I see how much power I’d also have if I stay with consulting and have that salary to do things with.  What is more beneficial, volunteering 12 hrs a day in any way, shape, or form they need me to?  Or is it more powerful to not volunteer there but have discretionary income to donate?

I’m starting a program for the holidays called ‘Stock the Shelter’ and I worked with the staff to make a list of necessities they need to maintain basic operations.  Looking to collect the less-than-fun stuff such as bleach, paper towels, trash bags, clipboards, printer paper, etc. I’ve gained a very real picture of how my salary could be of perhaps a greater service than my personal time is.  With my salary, I could take one or two paychecks and purchase most the items on the list – not everything mind you, we certainly aren’t a Rockefeller, a Helzberg, or a Winfrey – but I have to seriously consider where and how I can affect the greatest value to the animals.

I suspect the quandary I experience now is similar to what new parents feel when they decide whether to return to work or stay home, whether to give their time to their kids or give their time to enable a college education down the road.  It’s not a simple decision or easy decision making process.  So, with my consultant-hat on, what’s another approach I’ve not thought of?  If neither Option A or B fully address the issue, what’s Option C?

Could I become a writer, generate income sharing my story volunteering, or fictionalize a ‘Marley & Me’ from this current situation?  Could I win the lottery?  And what other options can I come up with given the odds against those ideas?

How does someone do what they love when it doesn’t pay them? Do I volunteer there and feel happy ‘…playing with dogs all day…’ all the while aware I could give more money to support the dogs if I do what I don’t love but am skilled at?  Why in this world do we pay so disproportionately to the lesser good created?  What’s the driver to solve the puzzle, my happiness?  The dogs’ welfare?  The shelter’s needs?  How can I affect the greatest good and still be happy?  Can I be more powerful than my paycheck?