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Climbing Career Ladder Led to Burnout at 30
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Jo Hooper said she felt like someone had flipped a switch in her brain Jo Hooper spent her 20s trying to climb the career ladder, quickly rising through the ranks with promotions and pay rises. Jo said during her burnout she could barely sleep and felt sick when brushing her teeth The charity Mental Health UK reports that two in five , external young workers aged 18 to 24 took time off due to poor mental health caused by stress in 2025.
Olympic athlete Laviai Nielsen recently told the BBC she realised she had burnout too late , after the 2024 Paris Olympics, while Green Party MP Carla Denyer announced in May she would be taking a leave of absence due to burnout.
Trade union leader Laura Doel said stress is the number one risk at work for union workers Some workforces have raised concerns about staff members leaving jobs due to burnout, including midwifery and teaching. Dr Jill Williams works with those struggling from burnout after her own experience She said: "It's actually perfectionists or those who go the extra mile who are more likely to experience this.
Public Health Wales' Amy Davies said the phrase burnout could be used interchangeably for stress, but said the two were different things. "Stress can feel like drowning, but burnout can feel like having nothing left to swim with," she said.
"If burnout experiences are unaddressed it may lead to those conditions developing," said Davies. Jo, now 39 and based in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, said: "I wanted to be a head of communications by the time I was 30, which I did by doing all things you'd expect, working long hours, saying yes to everything including mad things like taking my boss's kids to school.
Hannah Leonard, from the Royal College of Midwives union, said: "Midwives do an extraordinary job, and they deserve to feel pride in their profession, not burnt out within a few years of qualifying". "I'm in control, I run my business, I get to decide how it works, I get to decide what I do and who I work with, and that's a huge part of the process for me," she said.
I'm on a mission to convince people to work less "I genuinely thought these were all good opportunities, and I was going to grab them with both hands," said Jo. "It's not necessarily just work, we can see it an awful lot in carers and students, any situation where there is long-term stress," said Williams.
"Sometimes it can be helpful, but it also needs to come with changes to the context that's causing the distress," said Davies. "I definitely think it was a case of being forced to stop by my body and mind," she said.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- Jo Hooper said she felt like someone had flipped a switch in her brain Jo Hooper spent her 20s trying to climb the career ladder, quickly rising through the ranks with promotions and pay rises.
- "I loved being good at it," said Jo, a former communications professional.
- Jo, now 39 and based in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, said: "I wanted to be a head of communications by the time I was 30, which I did by doing all things you'd expect, working long hours, saying yes to…
- I'm on a mission to convince people to work less "I genuinely thought these were all good opportunities, and I was going to grab them with both hands," said Jo.
- "I definitely think it was a case of being forced to stop by my body and mind," she said.
- Jo said during her burnout she could barely sleep and felt sick when brushing her teeth The charity Mental Health UK reports that two in five , external young workers aged 18 to 24 took time off due to poor mental…
- However, there have been concerns raised about how people are signed off work.
- Olympic athlete Laviai Nielsen recently told the BBC she realised she had burnout too late , after the 2024 Paris Olympics, while Green Party MP Carla Denyer announced in May she would be taking a leave of absence…
Sources
- BBClink