Azzie, I admire you for having the guts to look inside yourself and deciding to change a behavior that's holding you back. If you're not having fun, it is definitely time to step back and take a breather.
I've been playing for almost 4 years now, and lately I've been kind of in the same boat as you. I play my obligatory 15,000 NPs worth of games every day so that I can buy my 1000 shares of stock every day. I've got a great bank account, but hardly spend it on anything, except training my pet and going on the occasional spending spree for stamps. What I've been doing this past week is concentrating on different areas of Neopets than NP-earning activities. It seems to be helping. I've been designing my NeoHome and trying to come up with some article ideas for the Neopian Times.
As far as giving items to deserving people, there ARE some players on the Help boards who really do try to help others out. When I want to give away something neat, usually around Christmas time, I go to the Help Boards and look at messages from people requesting Shop Wiz lookups for Quest items. The people who respond to those players with the requested information find themselves receiving a little gift from me. I also send them a NeoMail, telling them why a stranger has sent them a present.
Good luck, and if you need anything, just holler.
