Ryan Hopkins (Eating Disorders)
Ryan Hopkins is on a mission to engage 1 billion people in the betterment of wellbeing. He is the Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ, LinkedIn Top Voice for Work Life Balance, TEDx Speak...
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Who are you?
My name is Ryan Hopkins. I have a deep interest in wellbeing, a self-professed nerd in the subject. Some people call me a LinkedIn influencer or a LinkedIn influencer, which is awfully embarrassing. I've got a girlfriend. I live in Fullham. I train lots and work on myself consistently. It's a journey and something we're enjoying along the way.
What is your background?
My background is chequered. Interesting, varied as all of ours are. You've heard of squiggly careers? Yeah. This takes it to another level. I'm from Hastings in East Sussex, a sleepy little town. I was once training to be an electrician. That was going to be my life. I was working on a building site as my family do. I then had an accident, which changed the trajectory of my life. I worked on the counter in a bank, giving out, getting a little money bags, working on people's past books. Then following that, I quit my job. Flew one way to Argentina, selling everything I could, selling my car for about 800 quid. Managed. Pulled together two grand, travelled around for about a year. Espanol. I taught myself Spanish. I set up a hostel business in Ecuador. Come back once. Go uni. Couldn't do so. I had no A levels because I had to work when I was younger to support my mom and my brothers. Were accepted to the lowest ranked union in the uk. Worked my butt off, transferred to a better university. Then I finally graduated a first class degree, which I'm very proud of. Ran a bar in Spain, ran a school in Italy. Think of a job. I've done it. Following that, I got a job in consultancy. The world's oldest graduate at Deloitte. Taught me a lot. I left. Went to Leeds Wellbeing at Sainsbury's. Got made redundant. Went to a big tech company to lead the future of work. Got made redundant again, thinking maybe this ain't for me, but I knew I was onto something. Came back to Deloitte to create and lead their wellbeing business. They took to market. Wrote a bestselling book that I, Ted Talk now and now I'm the Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ. I told you squiggly didn't I?
What happened you first told your mum about being bulimic?
I was in the bank. I used to work as a cashier giving out the past books and stuff and be on sea. The oldest population in the uk, the average age is like 197. I'm not even embellishing and was working there all day and I was pretty good. I could sell anything to anyone. I was a good salesperson on the counter. And at this time I was only eating chicken and broccoli. I lost a lot of weight. I was had to write up. I was in the gym six days a week. I was taking diet tablets. I was sprinting in the morning, wouldn't eat carbohydrates. I por jokes with water and it got really bad and I lost a lot of weight in my face, was looking quite gaunt. And I was at work and I was unable to formulate my words. I couldn't speak. I couldn't actually say what I wanted to say. And the ladies who treated me like an adopted son, I said, something's wrong. I said, no, no, no, I'm fine. I knew what he was. No, no, no. Something's wrong. So they said, get out, go home, rest. Do what you need to do. So I called mum and I said, I need to talk to you about something. And we went to a cafe. I knew at this point it was an issue and I thought I probably wasn't far from hospital. And we sat down and had a slice of cake and a coffee and she knew she was just waiting for me to say the words. I said, mom, I think I've got a problem. She said, just tell me. I was like, I dunno, that emotion, I'm crying. And she, I know. She didn't even need me to say, as soon as that came out of my mouth, the journey to recovery began. It was long. It took many years. But without her and the things that she's done for most of my life, I wouldn't be here. Now. I don't doubt that.