How was my year? I’d love to tell you, and I’d love to hear how your year went as well.  Listen to this audio version of the year-end letter that we used to stick into those Christmas Cards. I feel like I had a great year, a year of achieving a few things, which was a nice change from the past few years, which felt filled with questions, trials, and beginnings. I’m reaching out these days, but I wish I hadn’t waited this long.  And I encourage you to reach out too, even if (especially if?) you do NOT feel great. How was your year? 

What’s the best way to stay mobile, active, and healthy as we age beyond our 50’s and 60’s into our 70’s? Dr. Michael has been a chiropractor for more than 30 years and has aged along with his patients, seeing and learning the best ways to maintain mobility, strength and stamina. He wrote the book “Fitness over 50, 60, 70 and Beyond” as a conversational guide, based on science but not bogged down in technical terms. Ramsey and Dr. Michael had a fun conversation about fitness and about what it was like “back in our day.” This is a great episode to help get you off the couch, or at least stretching in the chair.  Learn more at https://www.drmguad.com/.

What’s worthwhile to consume, consider, believe, say and do towards Peace of Mind, Vitality of Body and Joy of Spirit? And what’s the big deal, why do we need to do anything different from what we all do now? Modern life with our screens and desks and food delivery options does not line up with what we were designed or evolved for: waking with the sun, walking around, spending time with others, eating nutrient-dense whole foods, and getting enough high-quality restorative sleep. We need to be mindful of what we consume, whether we’re talking food or narratives, to consider whether or not it is real, healthy and good. We choose what to believe, whether we call it science or faith, and that’s the basis of what we say out loud, and the actions that we do or do not take. We need motivation to do the right things, and we need to talk about it, because it often isn’t obvious what the right things are.   I have three offers for healthy living motivation and discussion: this podcast, the “Stress Response” book available on Amazon, and direct services to help you get Better Before Burnout.  Learn more at www.whatsworthwhile.net.

Based on travel to all 5 traditional Blue Zones, what can we learn about how to live longer, healthier, more fulfilling lives? Veronique Ory explains what she experienced during her 2025 world tour of the parts of the world where the local populations are known to live the longest.  Veronique is a yoga instructor, global retreat and travel organizer, and author of “Shine On & Off The Mat.”  Ramsey and Veronique talked about how our bodies were made to respond to physical challenges, how time seems to slow down when we focus on simple, natural things, and how nice it is to eat and spend time with loved ones.  If you’ve ever dreamed about leaving the hustle and bustle behind and visiting the Blue Zones … or even the Blue Zone vibe … this is a great episode to enjoy.  Learn more at https://yogawithveronique.com.

How would people who live the longest celebrate the holidays? My guest this week visited in 2025 all five traditional Blue Zones in the world.  It got me thinking about all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and how things could be different if we were focusing squarely on our health, joy, vitality, relationships and loved ones.  Elvis sang about a Blue Christmas that was lonely without those we love … I’m imaginging a Blue Zone Christmas that is focused on being with those we love, and truly being present with them.  I promise I won’t try to sing any Elvis songs!

Is it wealth, success, stamina, fitness, relationships or health that men chase after in the middle of their lives, but which still elude them?  Perhaps a combination? Stretch Rayner looked amazingly fit and successful early in his life, as part-owner in a busy gym.  But his energy levels kept declining and he felt awful.  It took a move back to his home country of Australia and work with a functional doctor to figure out what was really going on with him.  Today, Stretch is the founder of Midlife Mavericks, a community of men working together to support their health, fitness and each other. Ramsey and Stretch spoke about the common traps that guys fall into in midlife, where to look for real improvements, and how men can reclaim their vitality and health.  Learn more at https://www.thesustainabletrainingmethod.com/midlife-mavericks.

There’s so many boxes, things to accomplish, presents to purchase, people to spend time with, right here and now. But are we checking off the right boxes? My guest this week made the point that lots of us find refuge at work, because we have clear objectives and can check off the boxes in order to feel accomplishment.  The problem may be that we end up prioritizing the wrong things or losing touch with the people in our lives that are most important to us.  It occurred to me that as we are in the holiday gift box purchasing and giving season, this insight is ironic and even more relevant. How about you … have you got the right boxes?

What am I grateful for this year? So many things! It’s good to take some time each day and think about and express what you are grateful for.  Feeling gratitude signals to the body that everything is okay, and it is safe to rest and digest.  Which is important for Thanksgiving meals, am I right?! So I tried something different this week, I spoke off the cuff, with just a few notes instead of a prepared message. It’s genuine and from the heart.  I love you guys! Have a listen, and I hope you are grateful too, even though things are never perfect. Have a great holiday!  No Thursday interview this week, but we’ve got a great one tee’d for next week.

Why are those love handles the hardest and last to drop? We go to the gym, we do the sit-ups, we eat well (mostly), but no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to drop those last few pounds, and that spare tire around our midsections! Andres Ayesta, founder of Planos Nutrition, Registered Dietician and Sports Nutritionist knows why. Ramsey and Andres talk about his experiences, perspectives and approaches to fitness, weight loss and fat burning. Andres firmly believes that everyone should work on their strength and mobility to improve their quality of life, especially for age 30 and beyond. Listen in to learn the real answer and what’s actually required to lose that spare tire for good.  Learn more at www.planosnutrition.com.

Ever feel brain dead and incapable of stringing two thoughts together? Recovering from that is such a relief. Last week I was toast (I hate being sick, even with a head cold), but this week I feel like myself again, and I’m fired up about not only sharing what I’ve learned from my journey, but inviting folks onto their own journeys to get better before burnout sets in. I lay out the foundations of health that we can use for recovery, but that’s only the half of it … there’s a lot more that we need, in order to get the right things to stick in our everyday lives.

The driveway ... and my work. Ever have one of those days? When you just don’t have the motivation to do your big project, your most important work. I do. But my friend recently taught me about “leveraging procrastination.” So while blowing off my work, I blew the leaves off of the driveway and still managed to get some (other) work done. And I remembered one of life’s great lessons:  you can always begin again, and the only way to fail is to stop trying. If you’re struggling with motivation, take a few minutes [procrastinate!] to listen to this message and rebuild your attitude around motivation.

What makes a C-Suite Executive healthy and successful, day to day and in the long term? Barbara Palmer, CEO/Owner of BP Life Coaching Services, LLC, located in the Houston, Texas area is a registered and licensed Occupational Therapist, Certified MAP (Make Anything Possible) Practitioner, and Executive Coach.  She has education and practical experience regarding the neuroscience, psychology, and spiritual factors related to human thinking, feelings, behavior, and habits.  Ramsey and Barbara discuss the challenges to personal health that leaders face, the importance of understanding oneself, and the benefits to both the individual leaders and their organizations when they show up authentically. Barbara explains the MAP method, where she addresses and connects with a client’s superconscious in order to get a more complete view and understanding of what’s happening in their mind, body and spirit. This is a great episode for leaders, aspiring leaders, and those who would like to better understand what makes a leader healthy. To learn more, visit  www.bplifecoachingservices.com.

Can you handle the truth?  The truth is that when we take care of everything and everyone else besides ourselves, eventually it will take its toll on us!  I’m looking for a few men to be the first to take the 12-Week Better Before Burnout Journey, my new and upcoming program for hard-working men that are fighting the good fight, striving for success in their professional and family lives, but starting to realize that years (decades?) of deferred maintenance on their bodies is beginning to catch up with them. The first three men that answer this call will get access to the program at a small fraction of its base price, and I will count on them to give honest feedback and input.  Could that be you or someone you care about?  If so, give it a listen, learn more at https://whatsworthwhile.net/offer-to-first-three, and send me a note.

How can you calm yourself down and move towards the version of yourself that you want and imagine for the future? Sarah Avilla is an energy coach and teaches the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to her clients.  EFT Tapping is a way to acknowledge your stressed-out feelings and physically calm yourself by using your fingers to tap on the same energy meridian endpoints used in acupressure and acupuncture.  Sarah leads a demonstration during the discussion (watch video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9edsJVLCvag), and she and Ramsey talk about nervous system regulation, releasing emotional blocks, and the value of imagining how we want to be.  In fact, Sarah is recruiting for her new program, The Future You Challenge, where participants will imagine the future versions of themselves that they want and take “messy” actions to bring that version of themselves into being.  This is a fun one and powerful one to take in.  To learn more and join The Future You Challenge, visit www.sarahavilla.com/store/p/future-you-challenge.

What if you could consciously signal safety and intention through your body to your mind? You can, through Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) “tapping.” This process is based on the energetic meridians of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture and acupressure, but is noninvasive and applied on oneself.  My guest this week is an EFT Tapping practitioner, and she leads a demonstration during our episode, but in this solo message, I give a deeper explanation of what the technique is, how it works, and my first impressions as I learn about it. I find EFT Tapping to be a fascinating, empowering modality, as it is a means for us to consciously take physical action to signal to our bodies and our deeper emotions that we are okay, we are safe, and we have intentions of moving forward. Learn about this nervous system regulation tactic in today’s message and the discussion coming up later in the week. 

How can we get to the root causes of so many digestive, nervous system, and hormonal dysfunctions?  Megan Abbott and her company Trifecta Collective use nutritional analysis, blood chemistry testing, and energy healing techniques to find and address what’s going on with their clients.  Megan dealt with a whole suite of challenges in her own life, including chronic back and hip pain/sciatica, heartburn, parasites, heavy metal toxicity, anxiety, depression, nervous system dysregulation, and chronic viral infections.  Through extensive training and personal discovery, she overcame these issues and now helps others do so as well.  Ramsey and Megan discussed strategies to regulate the nervous system, an expanded definition of stress, and the value of removing energetic, emotional blocks. Learn more at www.trifectacollective.net. 

What happens when all the little stuff piles up? We do our best, we have big things that need doing, there’s never time to do everything or to do every little thing right.  We have little bad habits and coping mechanisms and shortcuts that get us through.  But what happens when the years of accumulated little things catch up with you all at once? For my guest this week, it was a car accident that triggered a cascade of lurking health problems.  For me, it was neglecting my blood pressure for years until my doctor laid it out for me.  How about you?  Is something sneaking up on you?  Maybe it’s time to take a good look around and deal with it head on before it gets out of hand.

How do we take in what we need and avoid what we don’t? Becky J. Webb is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified life coach, and faith-based wellness coach focused on helping clients to balance their hormones, energy and vitality through boosting their foundations of health. Becky and Ramsey discuss whole food as the primary source of nutrition, high-quality supplements as a secondary source, and the use of essential oils to acquire even more helpful substances (as opposed to whatever it is in those wonderful-smelling fabric softeners these days).  Becky also opens up about her background, her decisions around vaccination, and experiences with illnesses.  This is an honest and open conversation, and a great resource for those who wish to nourish and balance not only their bodies, but also their minds and spirits. Learn more at www.instagram.com/beckyjwebb.

Do we truly know if vaccines are safe and effective, and what kind of study would tell us definitively? I’ve successfully dodged talking about vaccines until this week, when my guest brought up the topic, and I saw in my newsfeed a post for the new film “An Inconvenient Study” by Del Bigtree and The HighWire, of VAXXED infamy. The film is now available to watch for free online, and it centers around the hidden camera gotcha moment where Dr. Marcus Zervos admits that he won’t publish a study because he believes it would ruin him professionally, not because the study is flawed, but because the results don’t line up with the accepted narrative.  In fact, the results of the unpublished study are quite alarming. Vaccines are not my fight, and I don’t want to fight.  But I do think that it is crucial that we all learn as much as we can, and talk about what we learn, no matter how inconvenient.  Learn more and watch the film online at https://www.aninconvenientstudy.com.

How can we find what will work best for us? Alatian Health founder Jeanette De Caro went from a stressed-out semiconductor professional to a healthy and well-balanced Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner by walking a path of discovery, attempts, testing and ultimately finding solutions.  Now Jeanette works with clients through lab testing, fine-tuning nutrition, and recommending lifestyle strategies.  Ramsey and Jeanette trade notes on how best to respond to stress, their own experiences changing gears mid-career, and their go-to strategies to feel better.  Jeanette also shares the pros and cons of intermittent fasting, especially for females and especially for athletes. Learn more about Alatian Health at www.alatianhealth.com.