She thought she knew what a heart attack would feel like.
It turns out… not really.
When Edie Weinstein started experiencing symptoms on her drive home from the gym, she suspected something was wrong. But instead of pulling over and calling 911, she drove home, called work to cancel her clients, and then went to the hospital.
What She Did
At 55, Edie survived a heart attack. She exercised regularly, worked as a therapist, and considered herself someone with a strong work ethic. What she didn’t recognize at the time was how years of chronic stress, long workdays, and short nights of sleep had been quietly taking a toll.
Surviving the heart attack was only the beginning. What came next required just as much effort and intention.
What the Process Was Really Like
Recovery wasn’t linear and it wasn’t just physical.
Edie described:
- Working 12–14 hour days and sleeping only 5–6 hours a night before the heart attack
- Needing to learn, often uncomfortably, how to rest
- Being forced to slow down in cardiac rehab when her instinct was to push harder
- Confronting her own workaholism after years of helping others with addiction
- Realizing that calling work before calling for help wasn’t incidental, it was habitual
There was also trauma to reckon with. Although she didn’t lose consciousness or “nearly die” in the way people often imagine, the event itself was life-altering. A fellow patient helped her see something she hadn’t yet named: a heart attack is a trauma, even when you survive it.
What She Learned Along the Way
Over time, Edie began to understand things differently:
- That rest isn’t optional, it’s protective
- That boundaries are not selfish, even when you’ve built an identity around helping others
- That saying no, slowing down, and accepting support didn’t make her less capable
- That ignoring signals, physical or emotional, doesn’t make them go away
She also learned that change didn’t happen all at once. The same tendencies showed up again and again. The difference was that now, she could notice them sooner and respond differently.
What It Led To
Edie didn’t overhaul her life overnight but she did restructure it.
She learned to nap.
She worked fewer hours.
She accepted help from friends and family.
She became more discerning about where her energy went.
Her experience also led her to speak more openly about women’s heart health, especially because women’s symptoms are often subtle, misattributed, or dismissed. What she once explained away as anxiety or menopause turned out to be something far more serious.
Why This Matters for Other Women
Edie’s story isn’t about doing everything “wrong” and paying the price. It’s about how easy it is to normalize patterns that slowly wear us down, especially for women who are competent, responsible, and used to carrying a lot.
Seeing what her process actually looked like, before, during, and after, creates space for a different kind of question:
What might I notice sooner if I paid closer attention?
This post is part of the Women Who Did series, which highlights real women who followed through on something important to them, and what that experience taught them, so other women can see what’s possible for themselves.
Listen to the full conversation
To hear Edie tell her story in her own words, you can listen to episode 388 of the To Your Health podcast here:
