Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: What's Worthwhile Healing Mind, Body and Spirit? I'm Ramsey Zimmerman. I choose peace of mind, vitality of body, and joy of spirit over stress, exhaustion, or overwhelm. Together, let's explore and pursue the many ways to build holistic health and wellness.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Hey there, It's Ramsay here.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: We're just weeks away from Christmas now and then headed straight into a new year. And I've got Elvis stuck in my head singing about having a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.
Adult Song is all about sadness and longing when the people you love are far away. But lately I've been wondering about a different kind of Blue Christmas. A Blue Zone Christmas. I honestly don't even know how much they celebrate Christmas in all of the blue zones around the world. But here's my point. What would it feel like to enter this season with the same pace and presence that the longest living people in the world carry with them every single day?
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Most of us are rushing around these days.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: There are lists everywhere. Food to make, gifts to order and then wrap, travel to coordinate, relatives arriving soon, deadlines to meet before the year ends. We're trying to make everything beautiful, everything meaningful, everything memorable. But in the process, we often end up treating the very things that make life meaningful as interruptions.
Meals, Rest.
Connection. Laughter.
Pauses. If you're anything like me, you know exactly how easy it is to rush through dinner so that you can get back to the important thing.
But maybe the eating really is the important thing.
Maybe the conversation around the table is not the detour at all. Maybe it is the way I had a great conversation this week with a guest who spent time in all five of the blue zones around the world this year.
I'll let her tell you all about that in our episode together, but she said something that has been echoing in my mind ever since.
In these places, people do not view eating, walking, resting, or spending time with family as tasks that must be squeezed in between the real things.
Those things are the real things.
They're the fabric of daily life.
There's no frantic hustle and bustle. There's no smoothing out every discomfort the way we do here, always adjusting the thermostat or the schedule or the pace so that nothing surprises us. Life happens at a human speed in real environments with real weather and real bodies.
Meals last longer than they expect.
Time stretches out instead of collapsing in on itself.
And people feel connected because they actually are. I keep thinking about what that would feel like during the holidays.
What would be a Blue Zone Christmas?
Maybe it's not about flying off to somewhere exotic. Maybe it's not about buying more, preparing more, accomplishing more.
Maybe it is something far simpler.
A Blue Zone Christmas might look like sitting down to a meal with loved ones and actually tasting the food rather than inhaling it on the way to the next thing. It might look like a slow walk after dinner with people you love, even if it is cold and dark outside.
It might look like letting the imperfections of the season be part of the charm instead of part of the stress.
You might look like giving yourself permission to be present, fully present, in the moments that matter.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Do you feel exhausted before your day even starts, or do you struggle to balance demanding work and family with everything else? Do you wonder how to say no without guilt or set boundaries when everyone needs things from you? Does burnout feel inevitable no matter how hard you try to push through? Then check out my new book on Amazon, Stress Response. Manage your response to stress in order to reduce anxiety, avoid burnout, and find calm and steady focus. Now available on Amazon.com the truth is.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: That many people feel lonely or overwhelmed this time of year.
Even people surrounded by family can feel disconnected. Elvis was onto something there.
Blue Christmas is not always joyful.
Sometimes it is tender, complicated, bittersweet.
But the kind of Blue Zone Christmas I'm imagining has room for that too.
It has room for slowness.
It has room for breath.
It has room for grief and joy sitting side by side.
It has room for peace of mind, for vitality of body and for joy of spirit.
It has room for you to simply be a human being in the presence of other human beings.
You don't need to travel to Costa Rica or Sardinia or Okinawa to experience that.
You don't need to adopt a whole new lifestyle by December 25th.
You simply need to borrow a few minutes of the Blue Zone pace when you eat, eat when you walk, walk when you speak, speak when you listen, listen when you love, love with your whole attention.
Just imagine how wonderful the holidays would feel if we gave ourselves permission to slow down enough to notice the people in the room with us. Imagine how different the new year might feel if we entered it not exhausted from the season but restored by it.
My guest this week has so much wisdom to share about what she saw and felt in the Blue Zones and how she has tried to bring that pace and presence back into her everyday life.
I learned a lot from her. I think you will too. I hope you enjoy that conversation as much as I did. This was just a taste, just a thought from that discussion.
And for today, that is enough.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Looking.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: For more, visit whatsworthwhile.net to listen to podcast episodes, learn from books and articles, and live better by choosing healthy products and practices. I'm now offering services through Worthwhile Advisors for personal coaching, professional advising, speaking and group facilitation. If you or your team are ready to reduce stress and anxiety, build vitality and momentum, and accomplish your goals without burning out, then please contact me, Ramsey Zimmerman, through the website or on social media like Instagram X or LinkedIn.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Thanks.
