There’s something quietly sacred about the moment someone decides to open up to you—not just about their symptoms, but about their fear. As an Internal Medicine Physician, I’ve heard hundreds of stories that start with blood pressure readings and lab results but end with something deeper: stories about grief, stress, loneliness, and the silent toll it takes on the body.
When I first began practicing, I was laser-focused on the numbers. How high was their blood pressure? What dose should we adjust? I saw charts. Now, years later, I see people. Tired people. Brave people. People trying their best in a world that doesn’t always make wellness easy.
What they taught me—perhaps without realizing it—is that healing doesn’t begin with a prescription pad. It starts with listening.
The Hidden Weight We Carry
One woman I remember clearly had been struggling with uncontrolled hypertension for years. No matter what medication we tried, her numbers stayed stubbornly high. One day, after a long pause, she said, “It’s just… hard to care for myself when I’m caring for everyone else.”
That was the shift. Her heart was heavy long before her blood pressure was.
And it made me ask myself: how many of us are walking around holding in stress, pushing through, and calling it strength?
Slowing Down is Its Own Kind of Medicine
We live in a society that praises hustle and busyness. But no one claps for burnout. The truth is, slowing down, setting boundaries, and choosing rest—these aren’t signs of weakness. They’re acts of self-preservation.
Hypertension isn’t just a physical condition. It’s often a mirror reflecting what’s going on inside. Chronic stress, emotional overload, and lack of support systems contribute more than we realize.
You Deserve to Take Up Space—And Time
To anyone who feels guilty for resting: don’t. You are not a machine. You are a human being. You are allowed to say no. You are allowed to leave the dishes in the sink. You are allowed to take five deep breaths before answering that next call. Your worth isn’t measured by your productivity.
Your body will thank you for listening. Your heart will thank you for being softer with yourself.
From My Clinic to You
I still treat hypertension. But now, I treat it with more than medication. I treat it with compassion. With encouragement. With reminders that healing is not linear, and being human is messy.
And in every patient, I see a reflection of myself—trying, struggling, learning.
So today, let this be your permission slip. To rest. To breathe. To listen to what your body and spirit have been whispering.
You don’t have to wait until you’re burned out to begin again.
Written by Dr. Gwenna Aazee, Internal Medicine Physician & Hypertension Specialist. She shares evidence-based health advice and real-life reflections at https://healthusias.com/author/gwenna.
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