Change of plans? GMAT - Defecting Firms - Overseas - Depression

Hi All,

I'm facing a big decision in life and in my career that I'd appreciate some advice on. Warning: this is a lengthy post, so bananas to all who take the time to read.

My story has some lessons learned for anyone taking the GMAT, working in consulting or facing an imbalance in work-life priorities.

This year has been crazy. I've been a Manager for just over a year now, working in transactions at one of the big
For some background, my current firm poached me from another big 4 with the attraction of setting up the practice, more money and new title.

GMAT
This year worked on and led some amazing projects and at the same time, I have attempted the GMAT. In late Feb/ early Mar, I started the GMAT and it's had a terrible impact on my career through no fault of my own. I've been on and off with the prep throughout the year, prioritising work as demands pick up.

Attempt 1 - July to September:
Prior to commencing my leave period, I was working around the clock 80-100 hour weeks for 3-4 months straight, while travelling overseas for the project and trying to fit in the study. I was burnt out.
I also neglected a lot of relationships and family and my father was undergoing surgery for cancer. I didn't see him during this time, which impacted me mentally. I also failed to exercise and, as a former competitive bodybuilder, this greatly impacted my stress levels.

My diagnostic back in March was 430, so I had a huge hill to climb. I took 4-5 weeks off in late July- Sept to have an honest crack at the test. I bottomed out at 620 in practice and bombed the actual GMAT, scoring 560. After cancelling my score, I walked back to through the busiest part of town almost in tears.

In hindsight, I was doomed to fail.

Layover
Because I built up the GMAT so much in my mind, I was devastated by the result, such that failure made me super sensitive to every interaction post-attempt 1. The weekend straight after the exam I had a few really bad experiences: I fell off my bicycle and had some really bad injuries and I had a few really bad interactions with strangers in public (just people being really rude coughing in my face etc.) that I was more sensitive to for some reason;
Conceding defeat, I returned to work and admitted my failure. A lot of my colleagues were surprised that I admitted the result and said my mentality was admirable. I didn't think much of this. I took 2-3 weeks off preparation completely.

I didn't know it then but I was severely depressed.

Attempt 2
In early-mid August I started up prep again with EmpowerGMAT while working on a less demanding project.
In late October, a girl I just started seeing broke it off with me. This was the final straw. That day I was at my client's office with a fellow Manager. I just became debilitated, couldn't move or work. I have never felt this way in my life and knew it was just a build up of emotion and pressure. Sounds piggish, but I never took girls seriously in the past until this one, which is why it hurt. That day, I later met with my counselling manager and told him of the issues I went through. He suggested I speak with my firm's external psychiatrists for support, so I did - 3 times.
A couple of weeks later I started a period of part-time unpaid leave to spend time with my family and get right mentally. This time would also be used to study for the GMAT, which I intended on taking early in early December. Because I keep plateauing at the 600 score, I postponed my exam to February.

I now have 1 week left of unpaid leave, which I'm going to use to study lightly and then take a final CAT the same day I would have sat my actual GMAT 2.

Lessons learned
1. Don't use more than 1 resource - seriously - I used both Manhattan and the Economist GMAT and burnt 3 months just going through content. Although this helped with brushing up on the basics, I lost a lot of time.
2. Do practice exams more frequently - this is still a mental hurdle for me.
3. Don't try to do it all at once - working ridiculous hours + travel + family stress was way too much for me to balance without the GMAT and I ruined my immune system with the stress.

Overseas work
During attempt 1, I was contacted by multiple recruiters for 3-4 separate jobs: 2 were with corporates, which I declined and 2 were with my old firm but in London and New York. For some context, my old firm is a market leader in the type of consulting I work in and their London team is incredibly talented - some have top tier experience, most have MBAs. My current firm, however, is just starting out in this type of consulting (at least in Europe) and there are limited FTEs dedicated.

Because I knew the people in these teams, I started the application process but decided to postpone it to later December, so I could focus on the GMAT as studying was my ultimate desire.

Now
I'm going to return to work in a week and thank them for supporting me this year the way they did. I'm then going to go overseas for 3 weeks for holiday and abstain from any thoughts of the GMAT. When I return in January, I'm going to resume preparation and see where I land with scores. My next test date is set for mid-Feb.

In terms of my career, I could resume conversations with my old firm overseas but my current firm would not take kindly to me defecting; particularly after the support they gave me this year to pursue study and obtain mental health assistance.

Now, I'm stuck between deciding to defect to my old firm, continue down the MBA path for round 3 intake or stay with my current firm - the likelihood of me going overseas with my current firm is slim as a number of people resigned and our pipeline of work will require more staff.

Sorry for the essay, but I hope this perspective gives context for someone to provide meaningful feedback.