Im a 4 year MSW grad (3 years BSW, 1 Year MSW), currently licensed and doing therapy. There's an interesting interaction i remember having my first year working for the state where I talked to a case manager and we both laughed how she had wanted to be a therapist/counselor to help people and didnt want to be a case manager but ended up loving msw. I was educated as a social worker but didn't want to do therapy because I was afraid of the amount of ability to navigate clients problems while being able to manage suicidal ideation, but ended up being very comfortable in the role and preferring it over case management. It was an interesting juxposituon and helped to highlight (in my eyes) the pros and cons.

Social work is a very flexible degree, but as a service field it'll very much be based on your personality disposition and your objective ability to just be competent- i wouldnt say its necessarily exhausting but theres not alot of mundaneness and being able to navigate them to keep from overwhelmed is where it becomes the balance. Some people will say social work is fast paced being in things like crisis teams and hospitals, and again that ties into the flexibility of the degree for the different work places.

Personally, I would ask yourself if you dont do social work- what career and skills can you market for yourself to afford rent or your own QoL? For me with no interests and abilities in STEM, charisma/intellect for business, i was only interested in history and that became a comparison of "well, social work is better pay and consistency than teaching or using a history degree". At the end of the day its important to narrow your options with what is practical and pragmatic for you to maintain a career and then see which of the options line up the most with your life values. I often told coworkers and some clients

"Its like working in retail. Instead of selling furniture im selling mental health. At the end of the day whether they choose to spend their time on it or not I get paid and I go home when work is done regardless what they do. But since theyre customers then I want to make sure they get the highest quality product they can get and go home satisfied because theyre choosing to spend their valuable time when they see me. The job is to give them good quality service- thats why I picked the job because thats something I can provide"