Are you a member of a leftist org? Fellow Kiwi here I can point you in the right direction if you want. Being in an org helps give me some purpose for sure.
If you live in Auckland or Wellington you have a couple of options, Organise Aotearoa, which is a multi-tendency org who did good work with the Ihumātao campaign. Or there is the Communist Party of Aotearoa, which is a strictly Marxist-Leninist party that supports China which has done some stuff with tenants unions and has connections with Cuba and Vietnam through the embassies.
Outside of that, there isn't that much. Both OA and the CPA have members in Hamilton, Christchurch, Dunedin, Whangārei, Rotorua and Tauranga so joining those orgs if you live in those places won't be a waste of time. Both of them are looking to expand to other areas but suffer from the issue that there aren't enough people there to make branches.
In Christchurch there is the Canterbury Socialist Society, however, it is more like a social group than an actual org.
There is also the ISO but they arent that big and afaik they don't do very much. They also, being Trots, ask that you commit time to sell newspapers as a part of being a member.
Life can be defined by your work, it doesn't have to be. Your purpose could lie elsewhere. Chances are, it actually does.
In the US the public sector has decent consistent hours and good benefits. Maybe you could work for the labor department equivalent for NZ? What type of law are you working in?
You have a law degree apparently, have you considered taking your talents to a leftist org of some kind? In the US we have the National Lawyer's Guild that helps people at protests and stuff.
Obviously if you don't like lawyering this won't work for you, but maybe knowing you're working for a good cause will make the work more bearable.
Unfortunately, most legal help organizations are so under resourced and overworked that working for them is just as (if not more) stressful than working for a ghoul firm.
It'd probably be a lot more satisfying, but working conditions would be worse.
Assuming from what you wrote that you're in NZ, and assuming that the NZ situation is pretty analogous to the Australian one like I think it is from what I've seen, there are worse ways to go than into the public health system. Like there's a lot of bureaucratic BS and politics and people who live to make your life as difficult as possible, but that's the same anywhere. And obviously the politicians etc have no interest in anything beyond photo ops and dodging the blame for any hospital fuckups, and there's never any fucking money, but in my experience most of the clinical people at the pointy end really do primarily do it because they actually give a shit about their patients (and the ones who are just in it for the money fuck off to the private). So yeah there's soul destroying bits but overall the whole system wobbles gracelessly towards actually making a difference for sick people rather than just lining some rich fuck's pockets. The actual patient facing stuff is particularly rewarding, but there's plenty of useful shit you can do behind the scenes too. And honestly the pay is decent, the job security and leave allowances etc are good, and there's a pretty strong 8-to-4 culture generally. I reckon there's plenty of possibilities for someone with a legal background, especially if you know computers cos holy fuck are so many people in the system terrible with computers.
I'm still trying to get used to leaving on time without the shitty part of my brain trying to make me feel guilty for not staying late, but it helps that everyone else just walks out en masse right on the dot
Not quite the answer you’re looking for, but I’ll shoot. Die setter with a plastic injection company. It can be stressful with our schedule, it’s physically taxing (sorry knees, sorry back), and it’s dirty as hell (you never quite wash the grease and oil off your arms)...BUT it’s fun in a way, you have to be mentally present, it’s a great workout (I’ve never been in better shape) and it’s interesting. Not saying you should move to the Midwest to make plastic car parts, but manual labor can be really enjoyable in the right circumstances. Plus you can play with tools which are essentially toys with the right mindset (“oh boy I can run to the hardware store for a new ratchet! I can’t wait to work with it!”). Just my two cents.
I'm a software dev. Checks off the 3 bullet points you listed but the 9-5 grind has slowly been getting to me lately. If I wasn't already planning to quit soon to work on my own projects (and maybe start a worker coop), it probably wouldn't be too hard to find something more chill and with less hours in the public sector or find some company working on something I actually care about.
Probably something in medicine although people are occasionally crazy and that would violate your #3
