Over the past six years, Rachel has thrown everything towards building the career of her dreams.

But becoming an architect is tough, and despite having completed her studies, she has a two-year registration process ahead of her.

"At a minimum, it's seven years [to graduate and become registered] but most people do it in around 10," she says.

"By the time you're registered, you're in your late 20s, early 30s.

"Often it comes down to the question of, 'Do I get registered, or do I start a family?'"

The 26-year-old says with such a late start, taking a break early in her career to have children may not be realistic.

"I'm burnt-out. I'm tired. And to think now I have a registration process ahead of me that may take two years, and on top of that, whether my partner and I want to start a family, it definitely plays into the worry of what the next 10 years look like.

"If you're going to take a year off work, it inevitably puts something on the backburner and often that's career progression. Particularly if you've spent a hell of a long time and a lot of effort to get to that point where you're registered."

Rachel's husband Daniel says the supportive role he has played has been the hardest and kindest thing he has ever had to do.

"It's been really hard to watch Rach jump through the hoops over the last six years," Daniel says.

"It has stretched her, broken her and shaped her.

"I do worry about the after-effects of this long-term, sustained stress."

Burnout and young women

Like Rachel, 62 per cent of 25-29 year-olds said in the Australia Talks National Survey work-life balance was a problem for them.

Young women have also told the ABC they feel pressured to race up the career ladder before they risk being set back by maternity leave and parenting responsibilities.

"Taking time out of the workforce means that often workplaces forget about that person — while they're out of sight, they're also out of mind," says Kate Lee from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Ms Lee says this has created a trend of young professional women being overworked and burnt out.

Almost half of women told the Australia Talks National Survey career opportunities were a problem for them, compared with 40 per cent of men.

Psychologist and career counsellor Tina Papadakos says concerns around motherhood are a common predicament for young women.

"I think there's a lot of fear around what it will be like with this life change. How will this impact on the career I've really worked hard to build?

"It's a whole lot of unknowns. When people have sustained stress it can lead to burnout.

"It's important to recognise and identify when you're feeling disengaged, when you're working incredibly hard and always chasing your tail and never feeling like it's good enough, you've got to try and look at, is it the expectation of the organisation? Or is it self-imposed? Am I a perfectionist? Am I expecting too much of myself?"

Working to prove yourself

Before motherhood, Kristine Evans worked in a corporate role where she said merely mentioning pregnancy would have been detrimental to her career.

"Any hint of pregnancy was no further progression for you, no promotion," Kristine says.

"So, I would come straight out with this, 'Oh, not for ages … I've got a lot of work I need to get done on my career-front'."

Kristine claims she was one of many professional young women who worked harder than their male counterparts to progress their careers before having a family.

The experience led her to launch a coaching business that helps mums return to work after children, without sacrificing career progression.

Kristine Evans with her daughters. ( Ross Nerdal )

She says the biggest obstacle affecting mothers is persistent discrimination.

"You've got people in workplaces saying, 'When I returned to work, my children were on formula, so why can't yours be?'

"Or [for men prioritising parenting] 'Don't you have a wife for that?'

"We've got those kinds of comments happening right now, in 2019."

Daniel also believes young professional women like his wife are burning out early in their careers because, "The stigma around an active male parent is still pretty loaded".

"Relieving the expectation that planning a family around your career is women's business, and pushing for equal access to primary carers' leave, is a step in the right direction," he says.

Ms Lee says some businesses are leading the way.

"We see some best practice where some companies have proactive plans to remain engaged with those workers whilst they're on leave, and really make sure that they continue to be included in pay-rise or bonus decisions and also for opportunities," she says.

But she says progress in giving men more access to flexible work and parental leave is one of the slowest areas of change.

"At current trends, we're not going to see parity at the CEO level for another 90 years."

Challenging the fear

Ms Papadakos says motherhood doesn't have to stall women's careers.

"I understand there's a lot of fear, but I wonder sometimes if a lot of those fears are inflated by a person's own thoughts about what might happen rather than the reality.

"And in some cases it's true — a lot of work places are inflexible. And then the questions is, is that the place where you still want to do what you do?"

The Australia Talks National Survey asked 54,000 Australians about their lives and what keeps them up at night. Use our interactive tool to see the results and how their answers compare with yours.

Then, tune in at 8.30pm on November 18, as the ABC hosts a live TV event with some of Australia's best-loved celebrities exploring the key findings of the Australia Talks National Survey.