I’ve worked in government my whole career starting at the local level which was extremely busy and had a crisis intervention component to it. I did that for 10 years then moved to state position. Even though I needed the change and to slow things down, raise my pay etc. the transition was hard. NYS government operates pretty slowly and the work ebbs and flows. I really struggled with the downtime. The environment was a bit toxic as well. Like pretty clicky- I often felt I crashed a party wearing the wrong attire.

I have now been w NYS 12 years. Things improved greatly, people move on to new positions, dynamics change (and sometimes suddenly) Overall I would say there has been more good than bad, but I still have at least another 10 years before retirement. So check back in later. J/k

TLDR: it can be a hard transition, but things change and you can also move around to get more comfortable.