We’re going to make the wild guess that you’re feeling overwhelmed. Well, here’s what we want you to do. Turn to page 38 of this magazine and read “Calming Kids: Ways to Turn Anxiety Around,” by Ronica O’Hara, who lists simple things children can do to channel their nervous energy into something positive, productive and mentally healthy. Now do those things. 

We mean you—the adult reading this magazine. If you have kids, by all means let them join you, but O’Hara’s suggestions, especially the first three (get outside, work in the garden, take deep breaths), are ones any person of any age can use to step out of what feels like a hurricane of a world, and into its calm center.

In fact, that’s what we hope to offer you every month with this magazine: shelter from the storm. Sometimes it’s through inspirational articles that will restore your faith in humanity—true stories of good people doing good things. (Those stories are everywhere, and they don’t get told nearly often enough.) Sometimes it’s through educational articles that explore natural, evidence-based treatments for physical or emotional pain. Sometimes it’s through philosophical articles that invite you to look at an old problem in a new way, and consider how you can be part of the solution.  

Just as important, we connect you with local people who share your desire for a healthy body and mind, a healthy community and a healthy planet. We choose our advertisers—and they choose us—based on these common values and our mutual understanding that the best way to achieve them is together.

So to complement our feature article on gut health, local dietician Tammy Lantz penned a sidebar on how to eat healthier by eliminating “food guilt” (something most of us experienced during quarantine). Knowing that our health-minded readers are hyper-focused on keeping their immune systems strong, Navarre acupuncture physician Pamela Purser contributed an article on using Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupressure to boost immunity in our hot, humid weather (see page 20). Along those same lines, Mobile-based thermographer and lymphatic therapist Carolyn Olsen sat down with us to do a Q&A (page 16) for this month’s Therapy Spotlight. She explains how she combines her two specialties to help people prevent disease through detoxification.

Our Community Spotlight, featuring father and son Larry and Matthew Nichols, shows just how far some folks are willing to go to bring healing to their neighbors. As you’ll read on page 18, Matthew literally traveled the world to find fresh kratom leaves—used by some indigenous peoples to relieve pain and anxiety—and bring them back here to Northwest Florida. He and his dad own Kratom and Company, with locations in Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola.  

Given the difficult times, we also encourage you to check out Empathic Practice (see ad, page 39), a Pensacola clinic that takes a holistic approach to physical and mental health, including medical marijuana, mindfulness and other natural therapies and practices that can be used together to help you find the calm center within yourself. 

It’s an honor to stand with you as we navigate these choppy waters together. 

Here’s to smoother sailing ahead.