Andy Johnson: Episode Transcript

This transcript follows the spoken episode and has been formatted for readability.

Episode Transcript

Heather

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Visit pureenergyvt.com and use the code PURECHANGE for 20% off just for being a part of the Change Happened community. Pure products, pure purpose, pure energy. Welcome to Change Happened, Then What? Where in Season 2, you'll hear voices drawn here by one thing. Change. Each episode brings you a story of hope, unpolished and unfiltered. Where stories got messy, where people questioned everything, but also where they found a way forward. And maybe just maybe you'll find your own next steps in their words because when life breaks open that's often when the most beautiful truths finally have room to grow i'm your host heather holt and i am so happy to have you here today.

Did you get the answer to last week's Change Challenge question right? Shanti was 14 when she first got pregnant. Thank you to everyone who submitted their answers at changehappenedpodcast.com. You're all entered into this month's drawing, which will be held on November 18th for a chance to win a super soft tee or trucker hat. And don't forget, you can enter every week for more chances to win. Stay tuned until the end of today's episode for this week's Change Challenge Question. Now, let's dive in.

What happens when you're a 4.0 college student, a brilliant musician, a runner training for a marathon, and in one instant, all of it is shattered? One day, while out on a run, you're struck by a vehicle, and everything changes. You go from being that driven student with endless plans ahead to someone who suddenly can't remember what 2 plus 2 equals or how to walk. And yet, tucked deep inside your brain, something miraculous remains. Music. For a while, it becomes your only form of communication. Music.

Today, I want to introduce you to Andy Johnson and let him share with you how his life changed in an instant and how he turned that moment of devastation into a life of purpose.

Andy

I had finished up three years of college and I just finished running a half marathon, actually. Not really happy with my program that I was in. I wanted to switch schools and figured, you know what, I would transfer to a different to school, figure out what I want to do with my music degree. And about two weeks before the race, I was training and was running the bend on my campus. And someone came up behind me in their pickup truck, was looking at something in the ditch, and swerved their wheel into me at 45 miles an hour.

I came to sort of, I was dazed, but in shock. I thought I could run and tried to run away from the scene. Thank goodness the guy got out of his pickup truck and tackled me, essentially. Got me down to the ground and started screaming for help because that's what probably saved my pelvis from shattering even further. I was in shock going in and out of consciousness at the time. It was just a blur and I'm just hearing a lot of this from what people told me about the accident.

Heather

Let's pause here for a moment because although this might sound unbelievable, it's actually not uncommon. Even though Andy doesn't remember these moments because of the traumatic brain injury he suffered, he's fortunate the man who hit him tackled him to the ground. According to his doctors, that action likely saved his life. Andy's pelvis was already shattered and his body had gone into what's called acute trauma or shock. When a person experiences a sudden severe event like this, the body floods with adrenaline.

The sympathetic nerve system takes over, what we know as fight or flight response. In that state, Andy probably wasn't feeling any pain at all. His body was running purely on survival instinct, likely trying to finish his run without realizing the extent of his injuries. That's what shock does. It protects you from the truth for just long enough to survive it. Adrenaline takes over and your body moves before your mind catches up.

Andy

For some reason, I managed to get out my mom's full phone number. Out of all that stuff that was going on, I managed to get her phone number out of my head. The doctor said, the doctor called for my mom and dad immediately, and they came rushing into the room and saw that I was alive still. My head's pounding. I'm in a neck collar because they thought I might have broken my neck. So I'm in and out of MRI machines, CT scans. I had a neuropsychologist come and take a look at me.

I had to learn how to read and write again. I had to learn how to do math. And even though I had a brain injury and was having a hard time with speaking well and knowing how to add 2 plus 5, there's a piano in the main lobby of the hospital and they brought it to the piano. I could play this melodic piece of music. I think it was the Nocturne by Chopin. I played it from memory.

Heather

Chopin? When two plus five isn't seven? That's what it was like for Andy. When he couldn't add numbers or remember words, he could still play. Somewhere deep inside his brain held on to one language it refused to forget. Music. And when Andy was having a hard time speaking, he used music to show how he was feeling. If he was frustrated, the notes came out sharp and urgent. When he felt calm, they softened. And in the hospital, when time had no meaning and memory came and went, he would play, drawing on songs he hadn't consciously thought about in years.

Research shows that music activates nearly every region of the brain, including areas tied to movement, emotion, and speech. In people with traumatic brain injuries, music therapy has been shown to rebuild neural pathways, improve coordination, and even help restore language when words are lost. For Andy, it wasn't just recovery. It was communication. Each note was a way to share what words couldn't. Each melody a reminder that even when logic fails, the soul still remembers its song.

Andy

Neuroplasticity is a real thing. The brain continues to grow even after it's injured. It just forms new connections around the injured part. And that's how I think people's brains recover, is they go through this metamorphosis of healing. And it's really cool. The more we engage the brain and heal, the better off we are. It's clear, yeah.

Heather

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Andy

I was very intelligent at the time. I went from that to nothing. Very limited intelligence. They said that was my capacity was really low at that point. And so I felt, you know what, let's try this. Let's see what I can do. Let's see what I can overcome. This really difficult situation, shitty situation of any way happened to me. And now I'm left with what do I do with my life. My life, as it was known, was over. But out of the darkness comes light.

There's always a glare of hope. You know, I never missed a semester of school after my accident. And what happened was I met with a psychologist professor. He's having a wheelchair because I was in a wheelchair for three months after my accident was over and I was recovered. And he convinced me to try a couple psychology courses. He said, try a couple psych courses. If you like them, great. If you don't, no harm, no foul. I ended up graduating with not one, but two degrees. I fell in love with psychology and I finished my music degree.

Heather

When Andy heard the words, you're not going to be able to do much in life, something bigger inside him woke up. And he wasn't taking that for an answer. He was determined to prove that his story wasn't over, not by a long shot. He was going to hit the ground running, no pun intended. Well, maybe just a little. Andy went on to graduate with two degrees, complete multiple internships, and rebuild the life that so many believed was out of reach. But what he did to truly facilitate his healing goes far beyond the textbooks or retraining of his brain.

This next part, the part that shows what real healing looks like, isn't about success or recovery. It's about forgiveness.

Andy

I have held on to the theater for so long. It was eating me up inside towards my accident, towards the man who hit me. I said, I got a barrier to hatchet. Let things be. Because this was a staff member of the college who hit me. I sent a direct email saying, hey, this is Andy Johnson, Mr. So-and-so. I know we've had history together, but I wanted to talk to you a little bit more. I'll let you know that there's no hard feelings.

And three words changed my life. I forgive you. And it was so powerful right there for me to be able to utter those words and say them to him. It really changed and helped me heal. Because from then on, I knew that I could heal more fully, knowing that I wasn't harboring anger and hatred.

Heather

I think something truly amazing happens inside us when we find true forgiveness for the things that happened to us in this life. And that's often where the real healing starts. And would start for Andy. He would graduate with his two degrees. However, he tells me that when he does things, he likes to do them all the way.

Andy

I went on to go to school for rehabilitation psychology then, get my master's in rehabilitation psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Same thing again. I went jogging and thought I was healed up enough, only to find out I had a hairline fracture in my right shin bone, and I broke that bone pretty bad while jogging. Thankfully, I got to the intersection of the busy streets before I had it happen. The one thing that saved me was I had a knee brace on that, like, I knew it was weaker, But that was the only thing that kept the bone intact.

But that's what I really do. I had to take a step back and reevaluate things, reevaluate what it means to take it easy. I worked with a rehab team because I couldn't put any weight on my leg for another month or two after that injury. I completed a couple internships in graduate school for rehabilitation psychology, helping people with disabilities through vocational rehabilitation. And that's when I started working for the state government in Wisconsin. It was good for a while, but I really wanted to help people at a deeper level heal.

And it opened the doors up for me to try something called brain spotting for myself as a client.

Heather

Brain spotting is a form of therapy that taps into something deeper than words. It works by helping the subconscious brain release old patterns, memories, and emotions that talk therapy can't always reach. Instead of focusing on what you say, it focuses on where you feel it in your body. The spots in your brain that hold on to trauma even when you think you've moved on. It's gentle but powerful. And for a lot of people, it becomes a doorway to healing that logic alone can't unlock.

So when Andy found this form of therapy, something clicked. He saw it as a way to not only continue his own healing, but to help others heal on that same deep neurological level where pain is stored and where real freedom begins.

Andy

What it basically uses is fixed eye position to help people find trauma points and help them process and reprogram the brain for healing rather than reprocessing trauma over and over and over again. We're never going to get away from the trauma itself, but we're going to get desensitized to it to the point where we look at it and we're not as activated. If, let's say, a hockey player is struggling because a puck is coming at him really fast and he's been hit in the throat and every time he sees a puck come at him, now he flinches.

I can work with them using brain spotting and help them become more calm, grounded, neutral, and remain in their element. They'll remain at the performance level, decrease reactivity time.

Heather

At the time of this recording, Andy was running two practices, his talk therapy practice and his brain spotting practice. He's a huge advocate for making mental health part of everyday life and for using it as a powerful tool in trauma recovery. So as we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Andy what keeps him smiling today after everything he's been through. And this is what he had to say.

Andy

Knowing that there's hope that no matter how crummy I feel in the morning or how crummy I feel the day before, today is a new day. Grab it by the horns and make it yours.

Heather

What a beautiful outlook on life. When I reflect on our conversation, I'm struck by how selfless Andy is. How genuine his desire is to help others heal. So when I asked him for one piece of advice to share with anyone walking their own road to healing, I wasn't at all surprised by what came next.

Andy

Forgiveness isn't for the person who is being forgiven. It's for the person who's doing the forgiving.

Heather

Andy's selfless nature wouldn't have let him say anything else and how right he is because forgiveness isn't for the one being forgiven. It's for the one who needs to heal. Before I started putting this episode together, I checked in with Andy to see how he was doing. And I'll be honest, I was a little saddened to hear that life had thrown him a few more tests, including some health challenges. But in true Andy fashion, he's finding a way to make lemonade out of the lemons he's been given. The good news is he's also settled into a new place that suits him really well.

And even through it all, Andy told me something that sums him up perfectly, that no matter what life deals him, he knows his purpose is to help others. So wherever life takes him, he's going to keep doing just that. You can read more about Andy and the links to his socials in the show notes or at change happened podcast dot com. And now it's time for this week's Change Challenge question. Where did Andy get his master's degree from? Head over to changehappenedpodcast.com and submit your answer for a chance to win a super soft tee or trucker hat.

Our first monthly drawing will be held November 18th. So make sure to get this week's entry in. If this episode spoke to your heart i'd love for you to visit change happened podcast.com to join our monthly mailing list it's also where stories like this continue with blog reflections more about each guest and ways you can support the show and if you've got 30 seconds leaving a A review or five stars helps more people like you find stories like this. Think of it as paying for your coffee at the local coffee shop.

Change happened, then what? Is written, edited, and produced by me, Heather Holt, with the loyal background vocals from my two sidekicks, Waylon and Dalton. Until next time, keep smiling and maybe let your dog produce your next big idea.

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