Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] What's worthwhile to consume, consider, believe, say and do towards peace of mind, vitality of body, and joy of spirit. I'm Ramsey Zimmerman. Here's some more healthy living, motivation and discussion.
[00:00:31] Hey there, it's Ramsay here. As we wrap up and finish 2025, I'd like to take this opportunity to share where my heart is.
[00:00:39] Think of this as the virtual audio version of that insert into the Christmas card that we used to send to each other. I would also love to hear back from you. What's your year been like? Where's your heart at? For me, 2025 was a big growth year and and here's the update for me personally, professionally and family related.
[00:01:00] 12 months and less than 12 minutes. I promise.
[00:01:08] 2025 was a big year of completion and accomplishment for me, which was a really nice contrast from 2024, which was a year of breaking away, asking questions and starting new things.
[00:01:22] My health is in a pretty good place I think, with my blood pressure, blood sugar regulation and weight all steady and at good levels. My eating and drinking habits are much improved. After learning all about nutrition, I ran the half marathon in Olympia in 2025, which I'd done before but not for a few years.
[00:01:41] I enjoyed the training for that, getting out and running and putting in the miles, running lots of hills. The race itself was great. I made it up the hills without bonking, which is an improvement over the last time I ran the half marathon. That time I did not make it up the last hill without walking. My time was about 2 hours and 4 minutes. I was hoping to crack 2 hours but didn't quite get there. Maybe next year and gosh. Professionally. The podcast with the podcast, by the end of 2025 I've recorded and published more than 125 episodes.
[00:02:17] I really enjoy it. I'm continuing to find my way, continuing to find my voice in podcasting, refining the approach that I take and how I create messages, how I choose what to talk about.
[00:02:30] Discussions were really terrific. I got a chance to talk to a lot of amazing people who have great stories, different expertise in the area of holistic health, but from many different angles and perspectives.
[00:02:43] It's fun to talk to people from all over the world, not just here in America, but I spoke to people from Canada, Australia, Germany, Venezuela, the UK and a bunch of other places.
[00:02:56] I also wrote and published a book about stress response.
[00:02:59] I've always thought about or dreamed or imagined writing a book, but never really knew what to write about. It didn't feel like my story was either that Interesting or certainly not complete to write something like an autobiography. And instead I wanted to write something practical, something useful that would improve other people's lives. That's what the book Stress Response is all about. It's just based on the premise that in this life, we're not going to avoid stress altogether, and we wouldn't want to. What we need to do is change up and optimize the way in which we respond to stress to meet the virtual and mental and emotional challenges that we have today, which are different from the physical challenges that our bodies were designed or evolved for. I completed my nutritional therapy practitioner certification. I became an mtp. I learned so much about how the body works and how our modern lifestyle just punishes our bodies with all of the toxins in the environment, our sedentary lifestyle, all of this ultra processed food, and just the chemicals everywhere.
[00:04:05] In the program, we focused on natural foods and movement and exercise and learning how to manage our stress and getting good sleep. These are all just really basic foundational things. As I wrapped up the NTP program, I got to thinking about and decided who I want to try to work with in a meaningful way and provide services to. So I've decided that I want to focus on working with guys who are doing their best, trying to show up every day at work professionally and at home with their families, but really struggling. And the reason they're struggling is because they're just not taking very good care of themselves. There's some really important ways in which we could take better care of ourselves, and they're not all obvious.
[00:04:49] I've gone through lots of that myself, had my own version of that. So now I've developed a whole program to help guys to get better before burnout, and I'm rolling that out now on the family front. This year, I got to watch my daughter graduate from college and begin adulting on her own, which is very exciting for us, her parents. She's just a genius. I'm pretty sure she can do anything. And what she has set her mind on and her actions on is working in the theater community. And she's off to an amazing start. So that's awesome. I also got to watch my son have just amazing, crazy adventures in Europe, spending a semester abroad and then bouncing around Europe and performing in the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
[00:05:33] Man, that kid is just amazing. He's fearless and outgoing and just goes after stuff and blazes his own trail. So that was cool. I also have gotten to watch my wife. She's just thriving professionally and in the area of leadership, man. She's just inspiring to me and I think to many others.
[00:05:54] She's dedicated and responsible and pours so much into what she does and makes a huge impact.
[00:06:01] This year I also got to celebrate my parents both having their 80th birthdays. They're together, they're in good health, praise God.
[00:06:10] A couple years ago, they moved themselves into a retirement community and they tell me that they feel very connected with other people, perhaps more so than at any other point in their lives.
[00:06:21] I think that's wonderful. It's a huge blessing. Also, finally, we got a new dog this year. Just when we thought we would get the teenagers out of the house, we decided it was time to bring another teenager into the house in the form of a dog. But he's awesome and he's doing great this year. I was so happy that I got to reconnect with a bunch of my old friends and hear what they're doing and swap stories about what's going on.
[00:06:50] I appreciate so much the folks who responded to this podcast and have reached back out and those who actively reached out to me. I hope that we can do more of that in the new year. I also made a bunch of new friends, met a bunch of new people and colleagues through work and through my classes. The NTP community is great in terms of trying to help each other and move the health and wellness of our populations forward and help each other do that. I love how collaborative it has been already, and I'm trying to get better at networking and using social media in productive and healthy ways to connect with colleagues and connect with friends. You know, I've avoided social media most of my life.
[00:07:34] Seems like it's really toxic sometimes, but I don't think it has to be. I would love to hear how your 2025 was.
[00:07:42] Maybe your year was pretty great and maybe it was totally awful, probably somewhere in between. If your year was lousy, don't make the same mistake I made and hide and stay isolated and wait for things to get better. I feel like I lost years of relationships because I did that. So if things are not great, I still encourage you to reach out.
[00:08:06] I still encourage you to put yourself out there, ask for support, ask for help either from me or from someone else. Bottom line, I'm really happy with how 2025 shaped up. It wasn't perfect and I haven't totally arrived, but I'm feeling loved, ready and prepared. And for today, that is enough.
[00:08:30] Ready for more? Visit whatsworthwhile.net to listen to podcast episodes. Master your response to stress by reading my book Stress Response, available through Amazon, or to get better before burnout sets in by requesting the free guide. Regardless of where you are in your journey, I'd love to hear from you and talk about how we might move forward together. Please contact me, Ramsey Zimmerman through the website or on social media like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or X. Thanks.
[00:09:08] Ra.
