Hah! Sounds like reality has raised its vicious head. 1 and 2 are probably corporate policy, good luck with that. 3 is a fact of life. Requests from relatives are worse. 4 is how you gain more talents. If you want to always stay in your comfort zone, then get a job as a mindless factory worker or something. "Would you like fries with that" is a good phrase to learn. 5 means you need to take the initiative yourself. Many of us are self taught --> meaning no one hired a developer to teach us. Seriously, perhaps your current job isn't the greatest or maybe you'd be happier doing something else. Only you can answer that question. But whatever you decide, keep in mind that in any field of endeavor, if you want to succeed and rise above the average, you need to take control of your efforts and continually work outside your comfort zone. And if you just shoot for being average, then you'll not succeed at even that.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software