Sandra Bempong will tell you plainly: she hit a wall. It was 2020. The pandemic had settled in. She had lost her mother-in-law. Work was relentless. And Sandra — a high-functioning Program Manager of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield’s Public Health and Community Impact Team — was managing all of it in silence.

“I had reached a breaking point,” she said. “I had to step away from the job for six weeks.”

She took short-term disability. Her doctor — a Black woman, close to her in age, who understood what it meant to be a wife, a mother navigating perimenopause, a daughter to aging parents, and a professional under pressure — diagnosed her with acute stress disorder and anxiety.

“You get used to operating at that level so much that you don’t understand the wear and tear it takes on your body,” she said. “My nurse friend always says: stress is a silent killer. Your body will tell you to stop. You can either sit down, or your body will sit you down.”

Sandra’s body sat her down. And in those six weeks, she did the real work.

Pouring Out on Behalf of Communities

Sandra has been with CareFirst for 12 years. She now oversees grant partnerships, sponsorships, and volunteerism across the National Capital Area — Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, the District, Northern Virginia, and the Eastern Shore. Her team’s focus: health equity and community well-being, not just for CareFirst members, but for everyone.

It is, as she puts it, intense work. Beyond processing claims, CareFirst invests in organizations working on maternal health, access to care, and community capacity — and Sandra is responsible for making sure those investments actually move the needle. It’s the kind of mission that can swallow a person whole.

The New Protocols She Wrote for Herself

When Sandra returned from leave, she came back with a new operating system. Boundaries. Journaling. Movement. A nighttime ritual she hadn’t made time for before.

“I had to learn I couldn’t be all things to all people,” she said. “Learning to say ‘no,’ and being okay with it — that was a whole process. But I couldn’t take care of the people I love without first taking care of myself.”

Her mornings now include at least 45 minutes of movement before logging on. Her nights begin with intention: lavender soap, a sleep mask, screens away. She journals with pen and paper — forcing herself to be introspective. And she has learned the discipline of doing one thing at a time. “If I’m invited to a brunch, a dinner, and a baby shower, I’m picking one. I’d rather be fully present somewhere than halfway everywhere.”

On Rest, Sabbath, and What Other Cultures Got Right

Sandra’s family is originally from Ghana. When she visits, the pace shifts — people eat slowly, visit neighbors, stay present. “There’s an intentionality about being present that we don’t always have here in the West,” she said. Her Christian faith reinforces this. “The Lord rested on the seventh day. There’s a pattern there. Sabbath is not a luxury — it’s a requirement.”

A massage therapist once pulled her aside after a session and told her: This is not self-care as a treat. This is wellness. This is something you need periodically for your well-being. Sandra never forgot it.

The 80% That Happens Outside the Doctor’s Office

“Only 20% of health happens with a provider,” Sandra said. “What about the 80%? Am I living in a walkable community? Do I have access to parks and grocery stores? What’s my financial well-being? My spiritual and social health? Those are the things that really determine whether or not I’m going to be healthy.”

For a professional who spends her days working to improve health outcomes for entire communities, that’s not abstract. It is personal. Sandra Bempong has learned what it costs to ignore the 80%. And she has made a decision — quiet, deliberate, daily — to honor it.

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Michelle Petties is a TEDx speaker, Food Story coach, and the award-winning memoirist of Leaving Large: The Stories of a Food Addict. After gaining and losing 700 pounds, Michelle discovered the secret to overcoming stress and emotional overeating. Her free workbook, Mind Over Meals, reveals her core principles for losing weight and keeping it off.