106: NY Day Happy Healthy Living Dispelling Myths

New Year’s Day begs for a reset, but we’re not selling anti-aging fantasies—we’re building healthspan. We take on the loudest myths about getting older and replace them with choices that actually move the needle: frequent “exercise snacks,” whole and fiber-forward meals, sober or smarter rituals, and the kind of deep relationships that keep your brain and heart strong. The goal isn’t to live forever; it’s to feel sturdy, joyful, and fully here for as long as you’re here.

We share how to make movement your default with simple timers and horizon breaks that calm the nervous system. We dig into fresh food that supports metabolic health, why earlier calories help sleep and energy, and how to reframe alcohol without losing ritual. Then we go where most wellness talk doesn’t: belonging. Strong, intentional communities protect mental health more than any supplement. You’ll hear stories of mentorship, women’s circles, and small groups that turn “someday” goals into real wins.

Purpose ties it together. Don’t retire from life—rewrite it. Keep learning at your pace, craft a calendar you actually want, and practice emotional hygiene in micro-moments throughout the day. A quiet morning ritual can set your compass before the world spins up, and hourly check-ins bring you back to presence when the mind runs ahead. Confidence beats cosmetics, and agency beats algorithms.

If you’re ready to trade longevity hype for a life that feels good now, press play, take one small step, and let it compound. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review with the one habit you’ll start today.

Follow Coach Polly @getbusythriving and Coach Sam @thesamanthapruitt 

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Transcript

New Year, New Framing

Polly Mertens 0:28

Hey superstars, welcome back. Polly here.

Samantha Pruitt 0:30

And Sam Pruitt. What's up, beautiful humans?

Polly Mertens 0:33

Well, this episode is going live on New Year's Day. So we thought what a better topic than ever, talking about healthy, happy living. People are probably looking for like, you know, the latest fad and trend. And it's like, we're gonna take a little bit of a different slant on this today. It's about dispelling anti-aging and longevity and you know, all these like money-making industries out there. We've got a little Polly and Sam spin for it today, don't we?

Samantha Pruitt 0:58

And you notice you said happy and healthy, right? And we've talked a lot in the podcast in the past about those two things being interlinked and directly impacting one another. And I think that's part of it out of the gate. We want to make sure people understand that those two things need to happen simultaneously. If you are not healthy, you can't feel happy, not truly, and vice versa. If you are having health issues, it's very difficult to be joyful and happy. So it's so important that people understand that and they do the work in both of those ways.

Polly Mertens 1:35

Yeah, I think they're they're deeply lane. So we'll go over seven, you know, healthy, happy habits, you know, because people love, you know, getting our list of things that we're up to and what what keeps us living long, living happy. But what are some do we want to start with the myths, or where should we start with this?

Samantha Pruitt 1:53

Yeah, let's debunk some shit. Yeah. Okay. Let's debunk. Debunk. Okay, so there's lots of misconceptions about aging and what it, you know, what to expect, what it looks like, what to accept. Oh, that's my pet peeve right there. It's an idea that we should be

Myths Of Aging Called Out

Samantha Pruitt 2:12

accepting of certain societal norms. First of all, over the history of humanity, it's changed and evolved. You know, we didn't even used to live past 30 and then 40 and then 50 and all of these things. We're now living into our 80s, 90s, some people into their hundreds. And so having misconceptions is really ludicrous. Like, why would we allow that to drive our decisions and our way of living and our way of thinking and feeling about ourselves? So it's it's default.

Polly Mertens 2:40

It's default and it's subconscious, you know. Like we uh people don't always know how they're being externally influenced or programmed by the environments, the communities they're in, the things that they read, study, whatever, right? It can often be um an unconscious act, right? So, so this is where we're like, hey, yo, wake up over there. Nope, nope, that's that's not for you. You don't have to keep drinking from that Kool-Aid. Let's go.

Samantha Pruitt 3:07

Yeah, put the glass down. Also, you know, you and I have talked before, I've shared my experience many times um around health practitioners or people in my fitness and health space who have tried to give me messages, or I see them imparting messages upon the masses or others around what to expect and what is normal with aging. And it's all these limiting beliefs that they have about themselves that they're putting onto others. And I do see that with people when they reflect back on their family's health. So I recently did some genetic testing around cancer in my bloodline, things of that nature, because I have quite a bit of that, and I'm very fascinated in science. As you know, I'm a total nerd on this stuff. So I went to talk to the people who do the testing, and it's the same thing. It was all like, you know, yes, you have to look back on the history of your genes, but your genetic impact. So, for example, if your mother aged early and did this thing, or your father or whatever, they that information is important in your health information to provide to practitioners. For sure, I'm not unvalidating, but it doesn't rule or make the decisions for your life path. And so a lot of people will look back at their family and go, well, all the women in my family, you know, died early, were overweight, had diabetes, blah, blah, blah. And so they just start charting their course towards that. Like there's a gravitational like an acceptance. Acceptance. Yes. Yeah. So that's just kind of if people need to take an inventory of their beliefs around all of these different pieces, their family connections, their lifestyle connections, who they associate themselves with, and really say, Am I choosing that? That default.

Polly Mertens 4:53

Well, you know, I think two things I want to say on that is, you know, the culture and the people that you hang around with, right, are largely, A, they're gonna impact your religious beliefs, you know, your religion is largely dictated by your zip code. It's just a fact. It's not like not this isn't me, this is a fact in the world. You know, you're if you're spending time with people who are, you know, like you with all your ultra running, right? Like, if you spend time with people who are ultra running, you're going to just have a different paradigm of the world and what's possible. I mean, like people, you know, 40 years ago, would well, very few of them ever thought of running more than, you know, maybe a marathon, right? And it's like we've the further we get, the further we can get, right? So it's like, what are you surrounding yourself with? And remembering it's absolutely a choice what you believe. It's a choice, you know, and I I appreciate how you said it is like, you know, oh, you know, I I heard that this morning on a hike. Uh I was like, oh, so you know, do you have we're talking about health and stuff and uh insulin resistance? And he's like, oh yeah, well, you know, my um my sisters and brothers, they all have, and I was like, Do you live like okay, so what? You know, like they live in a completely different area of the country than you do, they have a completely different lifestyle than you do. What does that have to do with you? Like those people over there have uh, you know, I mean, it's a such a small percentage, right? So the environment, who you're spending time with, the things that you're allowing yourself to be indoctrinated with. So you have to like protect the doorway of your mind.

Samantha Pruitt 6:29

Totally.

Polly Mertens 6:30

Do I want to believe that? Like, what else is possible, right? And we see this too with diagnosis. I mean, like, placebo effect is a great example of this, right? Give somebody a sugar pill, tell them, I mean, but they have shown that you can do surgery. You can tell somebody they're gonna do knee surgery on them. They don't even do the surgery, but they tell them they did it and they have the same results.

Samantha Pruitt 6:50

That's insane.

Polly Mertens 6:52

That's how powerful these minds are in one way or the other, whether we use it for our best, you know, our betterment or not.

Samantha Pruitt 6:58

So basically, people need to carve their own path, right? We're talking specifically about like the difference in joy and health span and pursuing lifespan, right? And really, happiness and health are at the forefront. Let's talk about misconceptions of aging. I have some really fun. One eye people have literally told me, oh, health and fitness professionals, that I should stop exercising or exercise less as I age. What the Tom Effery is that? First of all, I immediately go, You have no idea who you're talking to. You're terribly confused. But also, don't be telling me this and don't be telling any middle-aged

Genes Aren’t Destiny

Samantha Pruitt 7:40

woman or human this.

Polly Mertens 7:42

What kind of a prescription is that?

Samantha Pruitt 7:43

What the hell? Right? Exactly, exactly. Or that you should slow down. You hear that a lot too. Oh, it's time to for you to slow down. I just am recovering from back surgery, right? I'm on three and a half, four weeks out from that. And I'm working out, you know, they're small workouts, but two or three times a day. Well, many people are like, Well, I guess you're gonna be slowing down now. I'm like, what? I triple down. I used to have to double down. Now I have to triple down on my effort and commitment. It's not true, right? So other ones are um, well, okay, so just accepting that illness and decline will be part of what happens next. Don't be accepting anything. Determine for yourself with education, knowledge, empowerment, support, etc. Like, you know, don't just, it's not the wild west, there's plenty of resources available to help you on the path, but don't be accepting, be creating what you want.

Polly Mertens 8:41

Like, I so have it, like, as I just even imagine, which our brains are so awesome at this. Like, I just imagine, like, if my life are, you know, if you're looking at a chart and it's like, oh, you know, you're you're you're a baby and you're getting faster, bigger, healthier, stronger, whatever, you know, and you're going up. Like, I feel like I'm like I'm just gonna be like healthy, healthy, healthy, and then it's just gonna be and dead. Like there's no, like, it doesn't, it's not like my graph starts to go down really slowly for a lot of years, you know, like the last 10 or 20 years of my life, I'm just like plugging along. Uh-uh. No, I'm like nope, I'm just nope, and then gone.

Samantha Pruitt 9:16

Exactly.

Polly Mertens 9:16

Why not?

Samantha Pruitt 9:17

It's a perfect scenario. Another one is the acceptance that people have around being isolated and lonely. You know, creating, and they will do this, you know, not even consciously, but some people will consciously retract and remove themselves from society and less and less engagement socially and things like that. So A, be aware if you're doing that or if you think that that's normal or that that's accepted, but it's not healthy at all. It's actually the biggest determinant of health is that connection, right? We've talked about that.

Polly Mertens 9:51

Well, and we'll talk some more about that. But I just think, you know, depending on where a stage of life and stuff like that, and I just, you know, in the leadership program that I'm in, we talk a lot about how this mind of ours is very isolating. It's it just is like a like it wants to, you know, protect us and all these things, and protection isn't necessarily going out, right? So if you're depending on the phase of your life, if you've had a career and you leave that career or you, you know, had you know all this, depending on you know, pre-COVID, you had a job that you went to and now you're whatever, like lifestyles can shift. And by you know, if you're not thinking differently, you can just become so much of a homebody, right?

Samantha Pruitt 10:35

Absolutely.

Polly Mertens 10:36

Over home body, like there's one thing to be like, oh yeah, I nest and I rest and I take care and you know have my little home and that feels good to you. And then there's like an overconsumption of like hermiting, you know, it's like nope, nope, nope. Like, like stay out. Like, what could you create in your life to you know turn that around?

Samantha Pruitt 10:54

So and if you are aging and transitioning from roles, so from like parental role or a relationship is no longer there, a partner relationship or something like that, or family relationships have changed because of whatever dynamic, or a job, either changing of job or retirement, you have to make a conscious effort to socialize, to engage, to participate.

Polly Mertens 11:17

Because what used to be force fed into your day, taking the kids to school and you know, outings with them and all this stuff, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 11:25

Yeah, people aren't just knocking on your door. I remember telling that to my husband when he retired. I was like, dude, people are not gonna just knock on the door and be like, wow, you look like you're really into horticulture and farming. You want to come hang out and play? You're really into like classic car. Should we go? They're not gonna do that. You gotta go like find those people.

Polly Mertens 11:43

It's not like when you were kids, you lived on a block and your friends just came over.

Samantha Pruitt 11:46

You know, they're just like, hey, you want to come out and play? Miss those days. And I'm so thrilled that we have neighbors across the street that we actually do do that. We're like, hey, what are you doing over there? You know, come out and play. But like a lot of neighborhoods aren't like that, and so you have to really intentionally get out and about, which does mean you need to make an effort again, self-reflection, self-investment. And what do I actually like to do now that I'm not with that person, doing those things, caring for others, having that job? What am I even into? Right?

Polly Mertens 12:19

Yeah, a lot of people don't know that, but it's it's a good inquiry. Okay, what else we got?

Samantha Pruitt 12:24

Okay, one more, one more, one more.

Polly Mertens 12:25

I have one too.

Samantha Pruitt 12:26

This is such a ridiculous myth. Well, I already said about you can't meet

Confidence Over Cosmetics

Samantha Pruitt 12:30

new people. Obviously, we talked about that, but you can't learn new things. What the heck? I'm literally like getting a new certification, reading probably two books a week. I listen to I don't even know how many hours of podcast content a week. Like, you know, I blow you up, girl, and I blow up all my people I care about in my life.

Polly Mertens 12:50

You're growing more than you're probably learning more than you did as a teenager, you know, when you were like force-fed school hours and hours a day. You're like, you can't get enough. You would enjoy that.

Samantha Pruitt 13:01

100% I'm learning more than I ever learned in my youth. I didn't learn diddly squat. Okay.

Polly Mertens 13:07

Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 13:08

And even in my young adulthood. But you can learn. You might learn differently, you might learn at a different pace. Definitely my pace of like taking knowledge in and absorbing it. Like again, with the certification under Dr. Stacey Sam's, I'm going way slower and I'm having to like reread and re-listen and retest or whatever. I didn't probably have to do that before, but who cares? Who cares? It's so rewarding.

Polly Mertens 13:34

Yeah. Yeah. So old dogs can learn new tricks for sure, for sure. And the one I heard this um on a podcast recently was talking about the whole beauty industry for especially anti-aging, and it's all about these little lines on our face, wrinkles, right? And it's like, you know, how to make it fluffier and less visible, and all and it's like wrinkles are wrinkles, man. Like all this money that you're spending and all the things that they want to tell you, right? Like, you're like, what what is it that about that that we don't like, right? And I think one of the things I was telling you is this over emphasis in our Western culture on youth.

Samantha Pruitt 14:15

Yeah, right. And beauty.

Polly Mertens 14:18

Yeah. We just over well, and the definition of beauty, too, right? So, like a definition of beauty tied to youth, not tied, I mean, because I there are magnificently beautiful women at all ages, men at all ages, has nothing to do with like the number on your birth chart, right? Or your you know, your birth certificate. So just knowing like not focusing on that and not being afraid of what shows up on your face or your body or whatnot. It's like, oh, you know, like new things that you know, I talk about girlfriends with and like, oh yeah, yep, got that too, you know. It's like, welcome to the club. Like, welcome to the club. Like the like you talk about your the wisdom of your gray hairs, right?

Samantha Pruitt 14:57

Totally, totally. I'm freaking, I got so much self-love and self-acceptance going on in this hairline every day. But yeah, your body is going to age from a cellular perspective. It is a normal part of aging. You can do a lot of healthy things, and we're gonna get into those habits next to help those cells, autophagy of the old cells that you do want to eliminate from your body, but then an actual building of new cellular tissue in the body and more mitochondria and all the things that we want for our brain and body. But this whole idea, this anti-aging industry, and really the media just gets behind it right, it's tons of money to pump up and fluff up and buff out, if you will, our life. You know, like I look a certain way, I just look like this. Is there some reason I shouldn't be proud of how I look over my lifetime, right? So is it like, well, I was cute when I was younger, but now you know, that's just totally nuts. That's totally nuts. The self-love and self-acceptance muscles that people have are really weak, and we need to really strengthen those.

Polly Mertens 16:07

Well, I think something I heard, and I I hadn't prepared it for this, so I don't know if I'll get it right, but it's like um one of the most appealing or radiant or sexy things I've heard for women is confidence. Oh, totally. Right? So it's like it's not the cream that you put on your face or the color in your hair or the whatever. It's like a woman who owns her body and herself and her expression. You like you're just radiantly confident. It's like you walk into rooms like it's all of me. Hello, right? Wear that damn confidence. Welcome to the damn club of yeah, like your favorite no fucks given.

Samantha Pruitt 16:44

Yeah, no fucks giving after 50. For sure. And then one more thing is about this anti-aging is like society and really commercialism in the industry will try and create an environment, a sense of lack or urgency around us spending money to not feel like a burden on society or on our family, or not feel like you know, we're creating some sort of need disparity. Like I hear a lot of people like, I don't want to be a burden on my kids, I don't want to be a burden on society, you know, like there's this I'm not worthy of love and care and connection and investment in my health and happiness as I age. Like I'm just gonna be put in a home or put off somewhere to the side. That's totally ludicrous to me. That person, the aging person, has so much to offer. The family unit, their community, their society, frankly, they're brilliant. They have a lifetime of experience to share the amount of resource that is available for mentorship and for connection is tremendous. Totally. Nothing that a 20, 30, or 40-year-old

Healthspan vs Lifespan

Samantha Pruitt 18:00

can even touch, but we very rarely talk about that.

Polly Mertens 18:04

And I think it's very our culture, you know, because there are cultures definitely in Scandinavian cultures and I think some Asian cultures where absolutely it's a village, you know. They don't live in this, you know, put the old people out to pasture kind of feel. No way, not in a hundred years, no? Like, and in some, I was reading about one culture where something about the way that they earn their money and they plan for it is like, you know, your peak earning years, let's say your midlife, whatever that middle phase is. So your younger years, you're you aren't really working, you're educating, and you know how that looks. So the middle group is helping support that group. And then you get into your middle years and you're producing and you're generating, and you're also supporting the next phase, is like that's when they go into what you're actually doing, is they talk about like you go on these quests of knowledge and wisdom and things like that. And then there's the later, and so the peak earning years, they're supporting all of those other quote generations, if you will, in whatever phase they're in, right? And it's just accepted in that culture of like it's giving and receiving, giving and receiving in all of those ways, right? Not just like going off a cliff and then see a bye, right?

Samantha Pruitt 19:19

Yeah, and from a parenting perspective, this is very confusing to me. A, I was parented by two people and raised a particular way, and then I um parented and now have grandchildren, right? So I see this really, and you know, in-laws and whatever interesting like circle to all of that sort of give and take relationship. And I don't understand why somebody who's aging would feel like they'd be a burden upon the children that they raised and educated, or that my mother-in-law, for example, who's 97, would be a burden on us, right? She obviously contributed and contributes still at her age to this entire family unit. You know, it's 18, 13 grandkids and 15 great grandkids. It's like a tremendous amount of humans, right? And so in many cultures, this is normal that the children are raised and the parents are dropping time, energy, attention, education. Money into them. And then they get to a certain point that those kids are giving back. Culturally, you see this in a lot of other cultures. But in the US, you don't really hardly see this, which is really a shame. We can change that, by the way.

Polly Mertens 20:35

All right. So let's get into some like what to do's. Like, what are you doing?

Samantha Pruitt 20:38

Oh, by the way, my children, grandchildren, when I'm old, will be so damn lucky. First of all, they already are. It sounds freaking amazing. But like to have me around, what are you talking about?

Polly Mertens 20:50

You get nana all the time. Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 20:52

Yeah. How fun am I?

Polly Mertens 20:54

Totally.

Samantha Pruitt 20:55

All right, let's get into the habits. Oh, dang. Okay, we got quite a few of these, but we'll try and keep it succinct.

Polly Mertens 21:01

Yeah. Yeah. We'll stay on track.

Samantha Pruitt 21:02

Um my number one thing. Well, there's well, there really isn't a number one, but this is my number one, probably, is to um include movement into your everyday activities. Movement is a normal part of your life. You were evolved as a human being to move, not to sit in your car,

Movement As A Daily Baseline

Samantha Pruitt 21:20

sit in a cubicle, or sit on the sofa. Those things didn't exist when humans were evolving. Okay, so now we're devolving because we have decided to sit and then sit and then sit and then sleep. So all the health impacts that we're having are lifestyle health impacts. Yes, there are some environmental elements that are contributing, but it's primarily lifestyle choices that are determining the health, the wellness, the longevity of the human being. So movement. What do you what do you think?

Polly Mertens 21:54

You know, one of the things we talked about before we aired is like looking at so I like the study of the blue zones for some things. I think there's definitely things about the community aspects and the relationships and some of the, you know, they are very plant-based and you know, timing of day of eating meals and things like that. But one of the things I studied was um in blue zones, people move roughly every 20 minutes. Like, think about that, like moving, not just like moving the pan across the table or you know, reaching for your cup of coffee, but like they're not and they're not working out. We're not talking like they like jump down and do push-ups or something like that, but like movement is incorporated through their day, you know, doing stuff. So I think, you know, their environment nudges them to be active and and doing things. So, like, what could we just like thinking about that? Like, how could we not just sit in one particular motion for for too long, right? And I don't know if 20 minutes is practical. I do like um getting in focus work sessions. I usually, you know, can get into like a zone of like 50 minutes and then I'll do a 10-minute timer and just like, okay, get up, walk around. Like, and part of it too, I don't know, you know, is the eyes age is you know, shape shifting from, let's say, looking at a screen that's so far away from your brain or whatever, and you're looking at type font or whatever, and they talk a lot about like and then looking up and out a window, right? Or looking further away. So, like shifting that eyes, keep that eye muscle active. So it's like looking little than looking far away. Looking, you know.

Samantha Pruitt 23:22

So you know what else this does? Uh I want to reference Dr. Rhonda Fitzpatrick. I'm a super fan of all the work she's doing in this space. Dr. Rhonda Fitzpatrick, she has a great uh podcast, she's amazing. Um, but one of the things that happens specifically to what you're talking about is this really focused visual line of sight, you know, the blue light and all the things that we're experiencing, and then shifting your gaze to the horizon the outside is nervous system regulation that downregulates your nervous system. When I heard that, I was like, what the hell? And it made perfect sense to me because I feel so good in nature, and one of the reasons I feel so good is because my nervous system feels safe. And the reason it feels safe is because I can see the vast expanse. Think about the evolution of humanity. Okay, if you're hovered in your cubicle waiting for someone to come behind you, the boss or whomever, or in your car while people are speeding 80 miles an hour down the freeway, or any of these very small isolated spaces, it is anxiety-inducing. I would definitely prescribe the every hour, so on the 15-minute mark and set yourself a damn timer. Okay. And anyone who tells me they can't do this, they need to call me and we're gonna talk about it because I will help them figure out a way to do it, right? There's different ways to do this. But the simple is like, okay, every 50 minutes set a timer, get up. Dr. Fitzpatrick, Rhonda Fitz, she's the one that calls them exercise snacks. So you're getting up and you're doing a snack of 20 air squats or a hot lap around the building or the block or whatever. You're moving your body to again regulate your nervous system, but from a physical perspective, cellular health perspective, critical. Critical. Your cells are literally getting poisoned, if you will, with so much cortisol and insulin and all these things. It's just trying to process all these hormones and all of these substrates that we're putting into the body. And it's very difficult to regulate any of that in a sitting position.

Polly Mertens 25:31

Okay. So get up, do some movement, you know. You work from home, run a vacuum, sweep something, do some dishes, do some.

Samantha Pruitt 25:38

I stand most of the time. You know, I was working at the library the other day because I've got to take all these tests, right? Yeah. Oh my, it was killing me to be in a quiet library sitting for two hours, and I was like, I cannot believe there isn't standing desks here. So I'm gonna have to investigate and inform said librarian. Yeah, this is not the modern world has standing desks.

Polly Mertens 26:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's just the way you live. So more of us for sure. Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 26:05

Let's do it. Okay, so let's move right on to food because you um nuanced that plant-based, primarily plant-based, so plant-heavy. So at least 50% of your uh, if you don't want to do vegetarian or vegan, 50% of your plate should be plant-based or should be actually vegetables of a variety of colors. And then additionally, doing um some protein, so beans or lean meat, if that's what you're choosing to do, or fish, and then whole grains. So a whole food diet. Again, this seems like health 101, but in a processed, fast-moving world, we've decided that food isn't all that important. And it's the building block of everything you see standing in front of you, including my brain function and my eyes and my emotions and my energy and all of that stuff. Imperative, right?

Polly Mertens 26:56

And I think um two things I would say on that. Definitely loading up with vegetables and I love fiber as another thing to just introduce, you know, foods with fiber, right? Um, and I think this grain thing, like, I don't know. I when I did that glucose monitoring, there weren't many grains that were good for my glucose except quinoa. So, you know, and quinoa is a protein source as well. So I'm just like a super fan of like when it comes to grains, I just go quinoa, that's what that means for this girl, right? And the other thing is as close to the source as possible.

Food: Whole, Fresh, Fiber-Forward

Polly Mertens 27:30

I'm not sure how quite to say this, but like there's so much processed stuff. So if it has a good long shelf life, avoid it, right? Like if it can just stay in that store or stay in your frit, you know, your cabinet for a long, long time, avoid it. You know, we haven't totally found out, I think, what canned things are doing to us yet, but I have a feeling there's something, you know. So as close to fresh as possible, right? Like I even think about my life and I'm like, man, you know, I have to go to the store quite a lot because I eat so close to fresh, you know, like it just, you know, I couldn't go. Well, some people do the Costco thing. I just don't have that much many people to purchase for or whatever, but like that much food? Like, holy smokes, like, how do you consume that much food? So there's things in those things, things in that food, if you're not eating it within four or five days, you don't want it.

Samantha Pruitt 28:18

Like, so this is so simple. Can you actually read the ingredients of what you're putting in your mouth? If you don't recognize, and don't you all be telling me that you're scientists all of a sudden and you know what all of these chemicals and things are, preservatives. If you don't recognize it, then it's could be problematic and highly likely it's problematic.

Polly Mertens 28:38

Yeah. So as close to fresh as possible, and there's so much that gets really technical, like, oh, this was made in these kind of oils and seed oils. And it's like that just starts to make people like really not want to look at food, right? But just as close to fresh and fresh by your own hands, even better. I'm not saying I do that all the time, but so just things that can sit on shelves a long time, avoid them as best you can.

Samantha Pruitt 29:05

And one of the blue zones elements they say is eat until you're 80% full. So again, it's you know, regulating of the blood sugar, regulating of the food, the macro intake, right? So protein and vegetables being your primary sources, carbohydrates being the smallest unit that will, you know, impact or have an the body has a need for, because we all have excess of that on board already. So ideally, we would use the fuels that we have on the physical body, not overeating, and then a timing, you know, looking at the timing of eating is a huge thing. Not everybody's going to be into fasting, but there are definitely proven, scientifically proven things around, especially based on your age. And we're talking about aging populace here or you know, middle aged and upper whatever, that there are certain times of day you just shouldn't be consuming calories. They have nowhere to go.

Polly Mertens 29:59

Well, you know, I was telling someone, I love this um story. It's like eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, dinner like a pauper, right? We invert that typically in the Western culture that we've grown up in. You come home and you have these giant meals right before bed. It's like, where do you think what are you fueling up for? Right. I was telling um Alan, my hiking buddy this morning, I was like, Yeah, my breakfast typically looks like people's dinner. You know, it's got like quinoa and Brussels sprouts. Like my breakfast looks like a lot of people's dinner, right? And I'm you know, one of my other things is can I get vegetables on every meal? Like, where's the vegetable? And I pref preferably I say, where's the green in every meal? Right? Like, where's green? Where's green? Like, can I put something green in this? Whether it's little, like little sprouts on top of something or whatever.

Samantha Pruitt 30:45

Got microbiome, baby. Alcohol, limiting the alcohol, or eliminating, yeah.

Polly Mertens 30:52

Limit limit or eliminate, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 30:54

Well, in the blue zones again, they prescribe red wine. They say red wine is you know, so there are too many sulfites in our wines these days. No, we have too much our that's because of many people have some kind of experience around that for some reason, and that's fine, whether it's rituals or cultural or whatever the thing is. What you and I are saying is like examine you're you just spoke about the quality of what it is, so that's enormous, right? I think of like a bottle of two buck chuck, which was the Trader Joe's wine that first came out, the red wine, and it was two dollars a bottle, versus like an organic, maybe sulfate-free or whatever, whatever red wine over here. Yeah, I get that that's twelve dollars and that's two dollars or something like that, but you're putting it in your body, right? Uh the blue zones is big on those things because they feel like there's a sense of ritual family and connection around the drinking of the wine, not like going out and binge drinking or partying or drinking late. Again, it's pure sugar. It's so alcohol is a toxin and it's a sugar. There's no nutritional value go in that glass of anything that you are picking up, right? So if that's going into your body at whatever after the sun goes down, good luck sleeping tonight.

Polly Mertens 32:17

So all I would say to that, you know, as I was out hiking this morning is um, you know, whatever we assign pain and pleasure to is a choice, right? And so culturally, like you're talking about in blue zones or wherever, this assignment of consuming alcohol as like a pleasure, whatever. Like, yeah, there's a placebo effect in that, and there's a counter, you know, contrary effect is like it's a toxin and it's got sulfates in it or sugars and stuff like that. So just intentionally create, like, you know, I have a uh apple cider vinegar drink that I enjoy, and I've replaced it with my evening like glass of wine or whatever. I get so much pleasure. I'm like, I'm drinking, I'm like I'm I'm aligning my energy and my what I assign pleasure to to something that I know is good for me. Like it's better for me than any alcohol.

Samantha Pruitt 33:08

So it's so this is so funny because we haven't even talked about that. But I started doing apple cider vinegar as a gut primer before my meal. I'm not so in love with it, but I do see the benefits of it and how you could make it like a mock tail or whatever. But you and I didn't even talk about this, and it's hilarious that we're doing it. Got microbiome. Okay, uh, other habits belong to a community and engage in it. Okay, stretch your emotions.

Polly Mertens 33:36

So, three things on the happiest people out there. I'm like, can I just drop a couple of bombs? Because okay, so I just had these I want to drop in here. Okay, so three habits from Harvard studies of like the happiest people is let's see. Oops, sorry, hold on. They prioritize high-quality relationships, they live with purpose and alignment, and they practice daily emotional hygiene. Okay, okay, so go for it. But yeah, talk about relationships. We'll come back to those as well.

Samantha Pruitt 34:06

Well, so the first one is that sense of connection and belonging

Alcohol, Rituals, And Sleep

Samantha Pruitt 34:10

in the world, right? And unfortunately, I do think that people are still working out the post-pandemic, you know, isolation and way of retraction and you know, all of that stuff. And the politically there's a lot of chaos, but whatever. So people are responding to that. I'm not saying I'm saying that it's gonna take work to like overcome that, but it's imperative because it is critical to your health span. So your literally the physical health of your body, and then of course, your happiness scale.

Polly Mertens 34:43

Yeah, yeah. So they say that deep, consistent okay, first we're deep. We're not just talking superficial S stuff, like, oh yeah, I just show up at the gym and there's people there. That's not what we're talking about. Deep, consistent, meaningful connection is the single strongest predictor of lifelong happiness. The happiest people invest in friendships, nurture partnerships, cultivate compute communities that help them feel seen, supported, and understood, right? Warm relationships protect your mental health, your physical health, and even your brain. Yes. So good, right? Exactly. And this doesn't, you know, and some people say, well, I have my family, you know, and look, it's like, it's not necessarily where we're talking, you know, deep, meaningfully connected, you know, depending on the family that you're nurturing and around and what that's like. Especially, I think, um, you know, I was I was having a conversation with someone about how, you know, when I've studied relationship therapy and stuff, they say, you know, years ago, years ago, we had these communities, right? And so like women would have, you know, women friends and this and that and what, you know, and all this stuff. And we've really shrunk that down to you go to a job and then you come home to that one person and your family or whatever. And it's like you rely on that one person to be everything for you, to be your lover, to be your play partner, to be your, you know, oh, okay, cry on your yeah, cry on your shoulder. Can you provide for me? Can you, you know, all this stuff, right? It's like, is one person designed to give us all that, right? It's like we need to ex, you know, expand that out. And I think that's why women, and you see this in men too, they have these little coffee clubs or book clubs or knitting clubs or women's circles or whatever it is that gives you something that you don't have to just get it from that one person. Like that person's like, go, go to your bike club or you know, go to your hiking thing.

Samantha Pruitt 36:36

Exactly. And you create circles with intention for this reason because people are starving, they are malnourished in this area. Deep connection, deep, you know, association and relationship with others where there is that camaraderie, shared values, positive energy, you know, a place to have confidence and things of that nature. And no, it is not your partner's responsibility. Hell, they can barely take care of their own stuff. I wouldn't want to be that all for somebody, whether it's my children or my spouse or a family member or whatever.

Polly Mertens 37:08

Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 37:09

That's not okay for that additional burden to be put on others. That's our responsibility. It is.

Polly Mertens 37:17

You know, we I have just one of the gals that was in the Come

Community As A Health Habit

Polly Mertens 37:20

Alive program, and we did it. We had we did it, it was originally eight weeks, and then we extended it, so it became 15 weeks.

Samantha Pruitt 37:26

Oh wow.

Polly Mertens 37:26

15 weeks we were together total. And so now, you know, I'm running the return to light right now as we record this. And, you know, the group we had our last call sometime maybe 30 days ago almost, and they're still texting with each other, they're still like sharing wins, like, you know, one like one of them in the beginning, you know, we did some identifying, like, what do you want? Whatever, you know, and then it was like, and one gal wrote down, like, own a house in March of next year. And that seemed like so far off. This was like in August or something, and it was like, yeah, Java. And I was like, why don't you move it up? Why don't you say by the end of the year? She just got the keys to her house last week. I am not even kidding. Yeah, she was like, you know, she sent a video, she's like, look at me in my house, whatever. You know, we're all cheering her on, right? Like these communities, these connections can go on. You're like you're saying, like, people crave that, and and really, and she said in her text to us when she shared, she's like, there was something about being in this group that I was able to have this happen and like push past things that would have gotten in my way ordinarily, or just have the courage to, or you know, and like pursue that instead of like, oh yeah, someday, right? And now she's freaking living in her house. Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 38:41

You know, a lot of it in my um observing of myself and other humans is people get trapped in their own head around these limiting beliefs or these ideas or these walls or barriers. And we have this idea that we have to have all the answers, we have to have all the resources, we have to do it on our own, and all of this bullshit. Okay, it's not reality. Like we again, how did humans evolve? Native humans evolved in tribal societies. That's how they literally survived. You weren't part of a community or a tribe, you didn't survive. Like we instinctually, we're still the same humans. You know, okay, yeah, we're a little more advanced in some ways, not in all ways. You know, those primal instincts are still there.

Polly Mertens 39:26

Yeah. So keep keep those people that you love close to you, nurture those deep, committed, connected relationships, and whatever way that looks like, you know, and your life in various phases can be more or less connected to those communities, depending on, you know, you got soccer every weekend, and you know, I mean, things can be quite consuming, but have some core deep relationships, even if it's like four women that have a lunch date or something like that, you know.

Samantha Pruitt 39:53

You mentioned the having purpose and having why. Um, and I want to just attach to that uh the learning, you know, using your brain, continuing to use your brain to explore your why. Right. So your why is a sense of purpose. Why do I get up every day? Why do I have structure to my life, right? To my days, to my time, to my calendar. I see a lot of people once they retire. They want to throw away the calendar and eliminate any sense of obligation and any sense of structure. And they're like a wild, uncaged animal for a hot minute. And then they very quickly are just sitting on the sofa.

Polly Mertens 40:32

I was going to say they go out to pasture. And what do cows do at pasture? They just get fat and hang out. You know, it's like, no, no, no. Well, you know, I can tell I had the benefit of, you know, I did my um had my midlife transition, not midlife crisis, you know, like sold the house, jumps in the RV, all that stuff. So after, you know, 90 days of driving around an RV and doing whatever the hell I wanted, I was like, I want to go back and get up to stuff, right? And I hear this. I just heard somebody's like, oh, she retired, and I'm like, she's gonna want to be back up to something. You know, like it's just, it's just how we are. Like, not like the same way though. You know, like there's so much of the way we come out of high school, college, whatever, it's like, um, you know, I was asking someone this morning who's like, well, what if you had to do it over, would you have chosen that career? And it was like long, long, painful pause, long, painful pause. I was like, okay, okay. So, like, all right. So when you shift into some other phase or like what you want to do after quote retirement, or if you just want to choose your life deliberately, right? Yeah, choose it with purpose. You can, you can make it full of money, you can make it full of joy, you can whatever, but like make it meaningful to you, right? And that's what makes the difference, I would say. And you know, as they as I read this about the study, it says the happiest people have a clear sense of why they get up in the morning, just like you said. Purpose gives direction, resilience, and energy. It doesn't have it doesn't have to be grand, right? It's about living in alignment with your values, your strengths, and what matters most to you. Fulfillment comes from meaning, not achievement. Right? Like I'm gonna be the damn, like I got a vision I did um in Return to the Light, I walked them through a guided visualization for like what you know, where like what's the new landscape look like in the future, right? Because a lot of times we envision from the past, right? And I just got them clear to like nothing. Like, what if? And in my own vision, going through the exercise was like, oh my god, the gardens I'm gonna have. I was like, oh my god, like super garden.

Samantha Pruitt 42:38

Not like super gardener, like I'm not gonna, you know, make a big old thing, but like you might, I might, yeah, or you might belong to a community that that's the thing, exactly, exactly, right? So definitely with the animals to live, places for butterflies to live and bees and all hummingbirds and all these things.

Polly Mertens 42:56

All of it, yes, yes, getting up to that. Okay.

Samantha Pruitt 42:59

So maybe we shouldn't use the word retirement, right? You can retire from a job. That is what is a thing, right? I have moved on from a career path or a job, yeah, but I didn't retire from my life. Last time I checked, I still have one. I'm alive, I'm breathing. I didn't retire from this physical body or from this brain. I didn't retire from my community or my home or my family. Like, what in the hell is this? I'm retired now thing.

Polly Mertens 43:27

I know, I know. Yeah. I I you and I need to come up with better words for this. We'll we'll do a whole episode on that, I think.

Samantha Pruitt 43:33

Like rescripting, you know, because like the second half.

Polly Mertens 43:38

Yeah, depending on what that, you know, and I when I read the four-hour work week, it's like many retirements, like inside of your life. Like that's what I feel like I've been doing. It's like, oh yeah, like don't put off, you know, till someday, like 65, you know, and then fall off a cliff, and then six months later you're in, you know. My my um cousin right now, he is was working for government, you know, high-paid pentagon, pentagon, pentagon job, work, work, work, work, work, you know, just crazy. I have liver cancer, and we're not sure how long he's gonna live. Just retire. Like, just just it, yeah. Oh god, so it's not looking good, right? And it's like, and how was how was this life for you? Like, was it just about that, right? Like, what else? But it's for each of us, like your own values have to be in alignment with what you choose. And maybe that I wouldn't necessarily say he was happy, you know. I think he's drinking a lot. So but you know, what what makes you happy and you fulfilled? So you don't need to drink.

Samantha Pruitt 44:35

Right.

Polly Mertens 44:36

Go for it. All right, you want me to hit the last one?

Samantha Pruitt 44:39

Yep, hit the last one.

Polly Mertens 44:40

So the daily, they practice daily emotional hygiene. The happiest people tend to have to tend to their inner life the same way others tend to their physical health. They downshift, they reflect, process emotions, regulate stress, and intentionally cultivate gratitude and or optimism.

Purpose, Learning, And “Un-Retiring”

Polly Mertens 45:00

So micro-moments of presence, gratitude rituals, self-compassion, reframing thoughts, small acts of joy, rest and recovery like you're doing right now. You know, it's like happiness is built in daily moments, not big breakthroughs, is what we want to say.

Samantha Pruitt 45:14

Well, you've created a whole discipline in your morning ritual around this. And a lot of people might know what a morning morning ritual is, some don't. Doesn't matter what time of day you do it, but why do you think those rituals are so important?

Polly Mertens 45:27

Well, I look at it as setting the compass and the rudder for my day, right? Like who, you know, when I first started it, like early, early on, one of the things was like, I want to get out of bed, love and happy. And I'm not getting out of bed until I am the essence of love and happy, and that's who I'm taking into the world. Like that's just how small it started. Like, and I was like, if I didn't wake up feeling love and happy, I'd be like, wait, and like, what do I need to do? And then I'd be like, love and happy, and you know, and it just whatever. And then I'd like to bounce into my day. So that's how it started. Now it's much more, you know, reflective than that, and you know, do meditation to connect with higher things than just you know, who I'm in this physical world being, right?

Samantha Pruitt 46:09

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And if you don't do it in the morning, you could do it like you were just saying, in these little micro moments throughout the day of aware of awareness, mindfulness, being awake, basically. I call it being awake, or even awake, or are you just sort of zombie rolling through the day? So carving out little, and maybe it's these exercise snack moments, right? Where you're going outside and you're looking at the horizon, you're doing a hot lap around the neighborhood or whatever, but like having awareness to how do I feel right now?

Polly Mertens 46:38

Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 46:38

You know, what's going on inside my thoughts, inside my heart right now? Am I operating from a place of my values at work, at home, whatever the thing is? Like, am I really being the person I want to be? And if not, being willing to think about that, reflect on that, and start taking some action rather than just ignoring it or numbing it through, you know, alcohol, drugs, whatever.

Polly Mertens 47:06

Yeah, I think um for me anyway, and I I think this happens for a lot of us, is you know, this mind of ours is quite an adept tool, right? It can be very monkey mind-like, it can like be all over the place. And it just like all of a sudden it takes us out, and we're in like a meeting three weeks from now that we haven't, or like we're regretting, you know, regretting something that happened, whatever. And we're like, wait, wait, wait, I'm right here. I was just right here, you know, brushing my teeth. How did I get to that meeting? You know? And one of the things I'm doing, and I think this is actually shown up in us recording some episodes and my alarms go off because I forget to turn them off, is doing this hourly presencing, right? Like remembering I'm the seed of the soul, I'm not this mind, right? I'm not saying I'm doing it perfectly, but the seed of the soul, the essence of who I am, is present for all of this. This this what do you call personality that I get to be in this lifetime, right? And if I just get stuck in the thoughts and what's going on up there and the scarcity and the, you know, you know, chatter, I'm not being who I've really came here to be. I'm not present to like all the magic and the miracles that are here to to see, right? I'm in the regrets, I'm in the doubts, I'm in the whatever, right? It's like this mind is not a good place to hang out in.

Samantha Pruitt 48:26

And that mind is responding to the nervous system that we talk about time.

Polly Mertens 48:33

And vice versa, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 48:34

And then the nervous system is telling the mind to do things, and then the mind is telling the body to do things, and so on and so on, right? It's like this loop, this it can be a vortex for some people, but if you learn some self-mastery, it can be the opposite. It can be incredibly powerful to take ownership, if you will, of that experience, that nervous system, those thoughts, and really conscientious, values-driven actions, right? But that takes time, that takes space, it needs oxygen. You gotta literally breathe oxygen into some space of your life, of your day, yeah, of your day.

Polly Mertens 49:17

And I'd say, you know, if you don't have like 30 or 60 seconds to pause in a line in a day, like really um, and I'm I'm doing it, you know, on the hour, you know. Like I um I think you know, you're gonna get to the end and and have more regrets. I think you're gonna miss a lot, you know.

Samantha Pruitt 49:36

I think there's a very famous bird Buddhist saying about this, so I'll just interject it because it's quite hilarious. And basically the layman goes to the Buddha, like, Well, how long should I meditate every day, right? And the Buddha says, Oh, okay, well, how about try to start at you know, 10 minutes? And the guy says, I don't have 10 minutes. He goes, Oh, okay, all right, start at an hour. In other words, if you don't think you have 10 minutes, you are in such bad shape. Literally, this is on fire this work for you, right? The calming of your nervous system, the regulation of your body systems, of your thoughts, of your ideas. You need to carve out 10 times the amount of time. So that's how this works, people, is if you're going around saying I don't have the five minutes. Now, everybody does, by the way, because they're going to it, there's in-between spaces of our life. So just to get like operational from a perspective, right? Yeah. Whether you're parenting or working or whatever the hell your thing is you're doing, there are in-between moments. You have a morning ritual that is so exquisite and beautiful and rich, and you have curated this for yourself and you know the power of it. For somebody just starting, it could be as simple as can you just get up 20 minutes before anyone in your house gets up? Why are we setting the alarm and then immediately having the same alarm for our partner or our children or whatever? So everyone's getting up at the same time and it's total chaos is raining in the house. Don't do that to yourself. Or if you're going from appointment to work or picking up kids or whatever, again, that car space. I used to do this a lot when I was raising kids and also self-employed and doing a lot of, you know, whatever, community shenanigans. My days were really full. So I would literally, with great intention, carve out car time. My car was like my sanctuary. Yeah. Yeah. I it's kind of hilarious. I a little bit lived out of my car. Yeah. And I just found such space and calming, and I would park somewhere by the ocean or whatever.

Polly Mertens 51:33

Transition time. Yeah. It's really good transition time. Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 51:37

And I would chill the fuck out. And sometimes I would literally just close my eyes and be like, I got nothing right now. And I don't want to go into the next thing with my community, with my family, with my team at work or whatever, offering nothing.

Polly Mertens 51:53

I did want to say something that was just sort of like I'm hearing in the back of my mind that I feel like I want to share with people about my morning routine, you know. And I have been an early riser. Um I I love how people say, I'm not a morning person. I'm like, I wasn't necessarily a morning person when I started this either. You know, like it actually started, thankfully, out of necessity because I live somewhere I had to commute, and if I did, you know, whatever. So I had to get up earlier. And this is pre-me putting my intentionality between, you know, about my heart space and connecting with my source and stuff like that. Um, but I would invite people, you know, we talked about that pain or pleasure, what you associate with, right? And so people who anti-mournings or whatever, they just haven't associated pleasure to morning time or whatever. And I just want to give you a taste of something that is so exquisite for me anyway. And you asked, like, why it was like, yeah, I like that, whatever. Um, as a conscious being and an energy being, and I work a lot with, you know, energy fields of my own field and actually in the consciousness of the planet and stuff like that, is when people are asleep, right? Um, you know, that 3 a.m., 4 a.m., kind of 5 a.m. time when there's not a lot of there's no cars going by my house. There's, you know, people aren't stirring, you know, that kind of a thing. You you are tapping into a field before all that other consciousness is back in the field, right? So like your energy can like really be expansive and be out in that field while all this other franticness

Emotional Hygiene And Morning Rituals

Polly Mertens 53:30

and all the minds are awake, if you will. So when all those minds are asleep and they're not there, it's like you can tell, and so I would say, just as you talked about that beauty of like looking at a horizon, right? Or seeing like some beauty in nature, right? I find that the beauty and the exquisiteness of quiet time in the morning, that stillness is so, like you said, calming for the nervous system. It feels absolutely magical. So I don't look at it like uh, oh God, you get up what time? Uh I'm like, oh my God, I'm so glad to get up before people because it's it's a it's a beautiful energetic time if you tap into it, if you allow yourself to be present for it. So, and and you don't have to do anything, you know, it's not like I'm jump up and go, you know, gym and all this stuff. It's like just grabbing my tea and sitting on my meditation chair and just like being in that there's not a lot going on in the world right now. Right near me, anyway, you know, on the other side of the planet, sure, but like energetically, like my aura kind of thing.

Samantha Pruitt 54:35

I love that. Yeah, it's like um none of the channels are turned on yet. If you think about the TV or the internet, you know, like back in the day when I was growing up, there was no TV at night, the channels went off and then they didn't come on until the morning. Isn't that bizarre? I don't remember that. Wow. I was just little, and but that's like how our parents grew up for sure. There was not TV 24 hours a day. There wasn't a stream of constant things coming into the energetic fields, right? That's funny that you said that because I do like getting up earlier too, not as early as you, but early still. I like to be up right at that, like right before sunrise. So I keep my blinds open or at least half open. Well, I keep my window open. I want to hear the birds are stirring. That's literally my alarm. And then I'm like hearing it off in the distance or in my yard or whatever. It's time to get up. And then I have my cup of coffee. I look forward to like these are rituals that I look forward to, and that quiet time of nobody is talking to me, nobody needs me. I don't have to be anywhere.

Polly Mertens 55:45

And I think people rob themselves of that, you know, people that just either surround themselves free, by the way. Yeah, yeah. I so I just, you know, if this is one thing that you could maybe take away from this episode, is what if you tried that on for 30 days? You know, what if you got a taste of it, see if you like it, right? Because once I've had a taste of it, I'm like, it's it's not a chore for me. You know, I mean, you know, it's like something I look forward to, right?

Samantha Pruitt 56:15

And I want to assign Dr. Rhonda Fitzpatrick's um workout snacks. So every 50 minutes you set an alarm, you get up and you do 20 of something. I don't really care what the hell it is. Jumping jacks, squats, a hot lap around or whatever, and then go back into your whatever.

Polly Mertens 56:32

Clean your house, clean your office, vacuum, go, you know, like it can be also productive things, you know.

Samantha Pruitt 56:38

You can be doing something, but it's more of a physical activity than um how hard it is for me not to start squatting right now.

Polly Mertens 56:48

All right, are we do we cover them?

Samantha Pruitt 56:51

Do we cover them all?

Polly Mertens 56:52

All right, good. All right, so your one thing is get in your exercise snacks. I love that.

Samantha Pruitt 56:57

Well, that's my assignment. Okay, but I do have one closing argument.

Polly Mertens 57:02

Please, let's hear it.

Samantha Pruitt 57:04

Okay. Do you want to live happy and healthy? Or do you want to live long? What is the number about?

Polly Mertens 57:12

Right, right.

Samantha Pruitt 57:13

That's like waiting and healthy. Okay.

Polly Mertens 57:19

Yeah.

Samantha Pruitt 57:20

Living long without the happy and healthy, I'm out.

Polly Mertens 57:25

I would say it's I want to just double down on choosing, you know. So like choose how this life is gonna go for you. Choose what you're gonna believe, choose the things that you're up to. Don't let it be either dictated or spoken to you or adopted or inherited or all those conversations that are not yours, right? Like come from nothing, like, okay, knowing all of that, what do I choose? Like, I choose to, you know, have a healthy lifestyle, you know, that looks different than these other people, or I choose to, you know, take my fitness on this year, and not from a like starvation or like punishment perspective, but I choose to make it fulfilling and dance or whatever lights you up. So choosing the life you want to get up to, right?

Samantha Pruitt 58:11

I love it. I love it.

Polly Mertens 58:12

Yeah, all right. What do we okay? What are our final closing things that we want to remind them of?

Samantha Pruitt 58:17

And then closing, closing.

Polly Mertens 58:20

The real, real closing.

Samantha Pruitt 58:21

We have so many closing arguments today. It's freaking hilarious. But obviously, how your life feels is more important than how it looks.

Polly Mertens 58:28

Yeah, and every day is your opportunity to find your awesome. And happy new year, everyone. Year two for us going into year three.