Hey there, Hannah here 👋

You'd never guess it, but I was a keen runner years ago, especially back when I was living in picturesque Sardinia. It felt easy to run there, with endless trails right outside my door and even more endless stunning views to keep me in awe.

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean, and one of the things that makes this Italian island so special is the fact that part of it is considered one of the world’s best-known Blue Zones. 💙

Blue Zones are regions known for unusually high concentrations of people living into very old age, including centenarians. The five places most commonly associated with the original Blue Zones idea are Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California.

Sardinia was the first one identified!

Living there, the people took great pride in their local cuisine. Delicious, hearty, simple, and fresh. I have so many fond memories of receiving fruit and vegetables from our neighbors’ backyards and farms every day. Cheese from a family friend, paired with wine from the neighbor’s cellar. Though I personally don’t eat seafood (#teamplantbased), it was literally caught daily on the pier outside of my house. Everything was as fresh as fresh could get. I even helped shape our freshly made pasta each day!

But what I find really interesting about Blue Zones isn’t just the food. When researchers look at these places, they find many commonalities.

People tend to:

💙 Move naturally as part of everyday life.
🥬 Eat largely simple, minimally processed, plant-heavy diets.
👯 Have strong family, friendship and community connections.
🌱 Have a sense of purpose and feel useful within their communities.
😴 Have ways to rest, slow down and manage stress.
🌳 And perhaps most interestingly, live in environments that make many of these healthy behaviors EASY.

That's the most helpful part to cling to IMO.

We talk so much about willpower: Eat healthier. Exercise more. Work harder. Be more productive. Grow your business. Blablabla....

The better question is:

Have you created an environment that makes the thing you want easier to do?

If you want to eat healthier, don’t rely on yourself making a good decision when you’re tired and starving at 9 pm. Fill your kitchen with food that makes the healthier choice the easiest choice.

If you want to move more, put your sneakers by the door, or like me, put gym clothes on first thing in the morning. Join a class. Live somewhere walkable if you can. Get yourself a dog who stares at you accusingly until you take them outside. 😂

I got myself two of those; I also chose to rent a house that backs onto a nature reserve where walking in endless mountains and streams is natural and easy, not something I wish I did more of.

If you want to read more, put the book somewhere you’ll see it, instead of relying on yourself to magically remember it exists.

If you want to spend less time scrolling, don’t sleep with your phone next to your face.

This principle goes WAY beyond health.

If you want to succeed in business, for example, what kind of environment are you trying to succeed in?

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....Are you surrounding yourself with people who are building things? People who are trying things? People who talk about ideas and possibilities instead of immediately listing all the reasons something won’t work? Do you have people you can ask questions when you get stuck?

Are you investing in education, support, and communities that help you move forward? (Psst. The Virtual Excellence Academy opens for enrollment next month, and there are goodies to be got on the waitlist!).

Are you putting yourself in rooms where conversations, collaborations, referrals, and opportunities actually happen?...Or are you sitting alone trying to figure absolutely everything out by yourself?

One of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years is this:

What you surround yourself with slowly becomes what feels normal.

If everyone around you is exercising, movement starts to feel pretty normal. If everyone around you cooks fresh food, that starts to feel normal. In the same way, if everyone complains all the time, you too may begin to engage and see that as completely normal.

And if you’re surrounded by people launching businesses, pitching clients, raising their rates, changing careers, taking risks, traveling the world and building unconventional lives…

…suddenly those things don’t feel quite so ridiculous either.

You’re not relying purely on motivation anymore.

I think that’s one of the most interesting lessons we can take from places like Sardinia. The people living there aren’t necessarily waking up every morning thinking:

“Right. Today I shall optimize my longevity.”

It’s simply built into their lives!

Movement.

Fresh food.

People.

Community.

Purpose.

Rest.

Their environment supports many of the behaviors we associate with living long, healthy lives. Not all of us are born into environments like these - but it is within our power to introduce things that create better conditions.

Instead of constantly asking ourselves:

“Why can’t I make myself do this?”

We could ask:

“What does my current environment make easy?”

And then:

“How could I change my environment so the thing I want becomes easier?”

Sometimes the answer isn’t MORE discipline. Sometimes it’s changing what’s around you. People, places, routines, opportunities, defaults etc.

You don’t need to move to a Mediterranean island and start making pasta from scratch to steal something from Blue Zone life - while it was lovely haha.

But you can absolutely think more intentionally about whether the life you’ve designed supports the person you’re trying to become.

And this is partly why Guanajuato has now come to feel like somewhere I can call home, at least for the time being. The community is incredibly strong here. And it’s also one of the MANY reasons Sardinia still has such a huge place in my heart.

Which brings me rather conveniently to this… 👇

🇮🇹 Upcoming Event: Come to Sardinia WITH ME!

This October I’m heading back to a place that is VERY special to me: Sardinia, Italy.

Over a decade ago, I was living in Sardinia, working remotely as a VA, and that's where so much of what would eventually become Digital Nomad Kit started taking shape.

Now, in a VERY full-circle moment, I’m going back as a speaker at ADOMU: Digital Nomad Summit & Electronic Music Fest, and I’d love to have some of the DNK community there with me. 🥹

And this isn’t just happening somewhere in Sardinia.

It’s in THE commune where I lived.

This event is actually a direct result of me telling friends there they should host something like this! (which also means this is woman- and queer-led!) 🎉

So yes, this feels crazy full-circle.

📍 Sant’Antioco, Sardinia, Italy 📅 13–17 October 2026

ADOMU brings together digital nomads, freelancers, founders, creatives and remote workers for several days of:

✨ Talks + workshops
💻 Coworking and creative sessions
🌊 Exploring Sardinia and local culture
🤝 Meeting people from around the world
🎶 Electronic music, DJs + parties
🍝 Mediterranean life in one of the most beautiful places on earth

I’ll also be hosting a DNK meetup while we’re there. So whether you’re a VEA member, part of the wider DNK world, or you’ve just been following along for years, COME HANG OUT!

And I have a special ticket link that gets you €60 off your ADOMU pass.

This is a great little offer you won’t find elsewhere. 🎟️

General event info here.

If Sardinia has been sitting on your travel list, this might be your sign. Come learn something, make new friends, dance by the Mediterranean, explore the island. Eat some very good food.

And celebrate this awesome full-circle DNK moment with me. 🇮🇹🌊💃

Hannah