Behind My Six-Figure Career Was a Body Asking for Help

I Forgot What Peace Felt Like

I need to confess something that still makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Fifteen years into my medical career, I had the external markers of success checked off—respected position, financial security, all of it. But my body was falling apart in real time. High blood pressure. Migraines. Insomnia. Anxiety. The whole cascade.

Here's the really uncomfortable part: I'm a doctor. I teach prevention. I counsel patients on listening to their bodies. And yet, when my own body started screaming for help through dangerous blood pressure, debilitating migraines, and crushing anxiety, I did what so many of us do—

I continued to operate on autopilot.

The Moment Everything Unraveled

Somewhere between endless charts, 15-minute visits, and the invisible expectation to "keep it all together," I began to fall apart.

My blood pressure crept to dangerous heights. A hypertensive urgency landed me in the ER—twice. Once to rule out stroke-like symptoms. Migraines I'd managed for years suddenly became relentless. New-onset anxiety and insomnia blurred my days until I forgot what peace felt like.

The common denominator? Stress.

Not the kind you complain about over coffee. The kind that rewrites your physiology without your permission.

For the first time, I had to face the truth I'd been outrunning: I wasn't well. Not physically. Not emotionally. Not spiritually.

My life had become a prescription pad of stress and survival—but no one had written me an order for rest, softness, or self-compassion.

The Question That Changed Everything

How could I be the one preaching prevention and balance while living in a body that was silently pleading for both?

That breaking point became my awakening. I could no longer operate on autopilot with stress as fuel, ending each day with an IOU to my body to "do better tomorrow." This was the kind of health crisis that was going to make a detrimental decision for me—with or without my consent.

But here's what shifted everything:

I didn't want to just "treat" myself. I wanted to heal.

The Beginning of My Healing

So I began at the beginning—reintroducing myself to myself. Slowly. Deliberately. Gently.

I developed a relationship with my body like an old friend I hadn't heard from in a while. I listened before I demanded. I started noticing cues from a place of compassion, not survival.

I gave myself permission to heal in stillness that felt safe. I learned to:

• Hear the whispers before the shutdowns

• Feel the tension before the tears

• Respond, not react

• Nurture, not numb

I confidently removed what didn't support where I was going and excused myself from where I couldn't be fully present.

What I Realized Changed My Entire Practice

As I healed, I realized something powerful: I wasn't alone.

Every clinic day, I saw versions of myself walking through the door—exhausted, overwhelmed, trying to fix symptoms instead of understanding the signals.

The chronic disease state itself wasn't the problem. The power my patients gave it while being misaligned with stress and stuck in survival mode—that was the barrier to truly healing.

I realized my reach was limited to the room I was in, yet the need for transformation stretched far beyond it. If this was happening to me—a physician trained in prevention—there were millions living "after" the medicine but few being guided on what to do before it was needed.

Why I Stepped Beyond the Stethoscope

I started shifting my practice to incorporate coaching and structured lifestyle planning as treatment. Even when patients continued to receive traditional medical treatments, I incorporated mindset and lifestyle shifts as the foundation.

Naturally, I fell back in love with my role as a healer.

So I made a choice that made me uncomfortable and freed me all at once: to step beyond the stethoscope and speak as the woman behind it.

With chronic disease management expertise and an obsession with personal growth and mindset mastery for wellness, I couldn't contain the role of personal transformation in healing to just the offices I walked into.

I needed to create a platform for those interested in curating wellness as a lifestyle—where medicine isn't the only option.

This Is Before The Medicine

Beyond the Stethoscopes became the umbrella—reimagining what modern wellness education could look like when led by truth, vulnerability, and lived experience.

Before the Medicine became the heartbeat—a space for conversation, education, and collective healing that happens in an approachable way.

Through this work, I'm extending what I once needed most: honest, holistic guidance and permission to begin again from a state of being and alignment lived daily.

What This Means For You

Here, you won't have to chase wellness. I'll teach you how to live it.

I'll approach my content creation like I do my wellness coaching and support you in remembering that prevention is not perfection—it's presence.

Since the medicine we often need first isn't found in a pill bottle, I'll support you with:

• Personal awareness transformation

• Mind-body connection

• The courage to show up for yourself

• The implementation of mindset shifts that serve you

This isn't just my story. It's an invitation.

An invitation to return to yourself, one conscious step at a time. To tend to a lifestyle that supports where you're going—not where you've been stuck barely surviving.

Your Turn

So tell me: Where are you in your wellness journey right now?

Are you running on autopilot, waiting for the crisis to force the change? Are you treating symptoms without understanding the signals? Are you preaching wellness to others while your own body is pleading for attention?

You're not behind if you're ready to be accountable today.

There's no "right moment" coming to save you. But today can.

Starting where you are—even with just a thought, a permission slip, an acknowledgment—that still counts. That matters.

Listen to the full story: Tune into Episode 1 of the Before The Medicine Podcast to hear the complete journey from breaking point to breakthrough.

Ready to transform? Explore the 5-Pillar Framework for mindset transformation and lifestyle planning in next week's newsletter.

Let's connect: Hit reply and tell me—what part of this story resonates with you most? Where do you need permission to begin?

With love and gratitude for your time and attention,

Dr. Akeira Johnson
Physician, Author & Your Guide in Wellness Transformation

Your weekly refill of wisdom.

Handpicked reads from our archives for a fresh look at past pieces that might land differently this time around.

Press play-because sometimes the prescription is just….. listen

Who is Dr. Johnson? 👩🏿‍⚕️ I am physician by day & personal growth implementation junkie who’s unsubscribed from rigid rules, cheering you on with wellness lifestyle tips, social storytelling, & practical ways to start exactly where you are on your journey outside of my office hours.

Let’s Get Social

Check brand posts here for quick bites of motivation, nourishing routines, actionable mindset shifts, limiting belief transformation & lifestyle planning for busy lives

 The Digital Waiting Room

“Where presence is perspective”

Check out our monthly reading list of handpicked books, articles & thought pieces that may transform your wellness.

More about me:

When I am not doctoring, coaching, & building a transformational wellness brand, I’m just a brainy, cozy-living, self-loving dog mommy trying to balance pilates, imperfectly perfect cooking, quantum neuroscience, & scrolling home decor inspo 🍳🐶✨🧠🏡💖