Ep. 248 Becoming Unnumb with Dr. Stephanie Byerly

What if your exhaustion and constant "I'm fine" are not a personal failing, but numbness you were trained into?

In this episode of BOSS: Business of Surgery, host Dr. Amy Vertrees sits down with Dr. Stephanie Byerly, an anesthesiologist, coach, and keynote speaker, to talk about the program she created for high-achieving women physicians who have done it all and still feel disconnected from themselves and everyone around them. Her mission: help women go from numb to unnumb, unapologetically themselves and fully alive, without blowing up their lives.

Dr. Byerly spent 25 years in academic medicine as a professor and leader, including national work advocating for women in anesthesiology. Then, after stepping back from leadership roles that she realized she was filling out of habit and external validation, and after a salary discovery that crossed a boundary, she moved to private practice within days and has never looked back.

In this conversation:
- Why so many women physicians perform for safety and validation, and how patriarchal conditioning and imposter syndrome show up in the exam room and the conference room
- Why shame becomes identity for women, and how to stop making every setback about who you are
- Radical self-compassion, and how Dr. Kristin Neff's three parts (mindfulness, common humanity, self-kindness) map onto becoming unnumb
- Nervous system tools from an anesthesiologist: 4-7-8 breathing, grounding, the five-senses reset, and movement
- Why gratitude has been weaponized against women, and what real gratitude looks like
- How safe communities of women accelerate healing, and why rituals matter
- Her daily mirror practice and nighttime clearing ritual

Whether you're burned out, over-functioning, or quietly wondering who you are beneath the roles, this episode is for you.

🎁 Free guide: Numb to Unnumb: Coming Home to Yourself 🌐 stephaniebirley.com (book a breakthrough call) | @stephaniebirleymd on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram

Website:  www.stephaniebyerly.com

LI:          https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebyerlymd/

IG:         https://www.instagram.com/stephaniebyerlymd/

FB:        https://www.facebook.com/stephaniebyerlymd/

🎙️ Host: Dr. Amy Vertrees | bosssurgery.com ⭐
Website: https://www.bosssurgery.com/
IG:https://www.instagram.com/thebosssurgeon

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