The inability to travel on vacation because of the pandemic has taken a toll on many people. They feel frustrated, lonely, helpless or depressed or have other mental concerns, an English anxiety expert says.

Work-life balance. It’s a phrase so often repeated that it has almost lost its meaning. For senior leaders, balance can feel like a fantasy one more demand on an already impossible list. Meetings stretch late into the night, the phone rarely stops, and even holidays can be interrupted by work emergencies. On paper, everything looks successful. The financial rewards are there. The status is secure. Yet at home, something far more precious can quietly slip away: emotional connection with those who matter most.

In boardrooms across the UK and beyond, the topic of employee wellbeing is frequently on the agenda. But behind the polished policies and the occasional yoga class or mental health mindset day, a pressing question lingers: Do companies genuinely care about employee wellbeing, or is it all just about the numbers?

In today’s relentless pace of high-stakes meetings, back-to-back obligations, and the emotional weight of carrying others, whether in boardrooms or in family life, high-functioning women and corporate leaders often find themselves quietly fraying at the edges. 

In today's fast-paced professional world, emotional stress is no longer a private issue confined to the therapist’s office. It has become a strategic workplace concern and an urgent one. The Mental Health Foundation reports that 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point in the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. In a business context, stress is more than just an individual wellbeing issue. It is a performance issue, a communication issue, and a retention issue.

In the quiet spaces between meetings, school runs, inboxes and endless to-do lists, a particular kind of woman is silently struggling. She appears calm, competent, and successful on the outside, perhaps even admired by many. But beneath the polished exterior, she feels increasingly isolated.

The glass ceiling is often described as an invisible barrier preventing women from rising to the top of their professions. But what if, for many successful women, the true barrier is not external but internal? What if the limits they perceive in their careers stem not only from societal structures but also from deep-seated beliefs formed in childhood?

To the world, she is successful, accomplished, and in control. Yet, behind closed doors, she wrestles with a truth she dares not speak. The anxiety, the self-doubt, the relentless pressure to perform, to hold it all together while secretly wondering, "When will I finally feel like I belong?"

Read how award-winning psychotherapist, Lisa Skeffington, helps women win their silent battle with anxiety, self-doubt, and the overwhelming pressure to ‘do it all’.