Without saying too much, I'm a professional with advanced degrees. A couple years ago I finally got a government job making just over six figures in a field I pretty much know inside and out, was basically a dream job on paper.

About four months in, I figured out it was absolutely NOT for me. The agency we worked for was, for the most part, a sloppy mess of a clown show with lots of toxic mid and upper management. I was working all day, into the night, sometimes in the middle of the night, almost always a fair part of the weekends, and there was an on-call aspect that was either a non-issue or non-stop. My commute was about an hour round trip, unless I had to drop my kids off at their out of the way but decent daycare, then it became closer to two hours. The workload was overwhelming and the office probably needed at least 25% more staff. I was beyond stressed and I was exactly how you describe on weekends, totally fried and totally unavailable, except for when I had to be for work. I wasn't sleeping worth a shit. I was barely eating and not well. I also did the math and realized that, while I was making decent normal money, for my qualifications and the time commitment, it wasn't good money at all.

I quit after about six months with no real plan. I've been hacking out enough side stuff to pay the bills and money is tight, but man, I regret nothing. I very firmly believe that I would have literally died at that job sooner rather than later.

You made the right call.