What Energizes You? 10 Healthy-Living Experts Share Their Strategies for Thriving

“What energizes you?” That’s the question we posed to 10 Experience Life expert sources and past cover-story subjects, searching for insights on the values, passions, and interests that bring meaning and joy to their lives.

Each of them interpreted the question a bit differently: Some spoke of motivation, others of inspiration. Some talked about physical energy, while others tapped into a more spiritual or emotional quality. Some pursued sources of energy to attain goals or face challenges; others sought quiet sustenance.

We gathered their ideas in hopes that they might spark your own reflections about what lights you up.

Two-time Olympian and World Championship medalist in long-distance running, Kara Goucher still relies on the kinds of disciplined fitness routines that kept her energized as a professional athlete.

“I don’t consider myself a super high-energy person naturally,” says Goucher, who now serves as a track-and-field analyst for NBC Sports. So, making time to move every morning — outdoors, if possible — is key to feeling good.

“It brings me joy. It makes me feel like anything is possible,” she adds. “I know not everybody can do this, but I try not to schedule anything before 11 a.m. so I can work out. It’s about setting myself up to succeed for the day.”

Chef Yia Vang calls his celebrated Minneapolis restaurant, Vinai, “a love letter” to his parents, Hmong immigrants who brought their family to the United States after flee­ing Laos at the end of the Vietnam War.

At least three mornings a week, Vang personally lights the wood-fire grill that functions as Vinai’s primary cooking station. Igniting it serves as a ritual to honor family.

“Everything starts from that fire,” he explains, recalling how he learned to cook on a simple grill his father constructed with two cinder blocks. “It rejuvenates me and ignites a remembering of what this is all about.”

After his wife was diag­nosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2020, integra­tive psychiatrist Henry Emmons, MD, labored through the grief and challenges of caregiving. He leaned on the self-care practices he teaches and writes about, but he also began experiencing symptoms of fibromyalgia, including muscle aches and fatigue.

“I had no idea how depleted my energy was,” he recalls.

In 2025, Emmons moved his wife into a memory-care facility. Since then, he’s been on an intentional journey to reclaim his energy and vitality, relying on the support of good friends and prioritizing rest.

“I’ve been attending to my inner self, entering more deeply into what I really need.”

Part of personal-development coach Amber Lyon’s work is helping others embrace the positive energy they seek. In February 2026, a month before the birth of her first child, the author of You Are a Magnet reflected on how her notion of energy has shifted.

“In the past, it would have been about what fills my cup versus what depletes it,” she says. Now Lyon is looking outward.

“I think what’s missing from a lot of people’s lives is feeling part of something meaningful and bigger than themselves. For myself now, it’s not about energy for energy’s sake, but about how I am using that energy to contribute to the lives of others.”

“The No. 1 thing that gives me energy is laughter,” says functional-medicine physician Gregory Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP. “My life is full of bad dad jokes.”

Laughter tends to be a group activity, Plotnikoff says. “Have you ever done laughter yoga? Suddenly you’re laughing because everyone else is laughing. The happiest stomachache I’ve ever had in my life was from laughing in a laughter yoga group!”

When he’s not cracking jokes or working to solve complex medical mysteries (No. 2 on his list of energizing activities), Plotnikoff finds energy in music. “I love Baroque trumpet. I love Dvořák, Beethoven, and Handel.”

And he enjoys watching America’s Got Talent. “Music with a good story — I find that very moving.”

“When I think of ­being ­energized, I think of ­being inspired. And the quality that comes to mind for me is awe,” says renowned meditation and lovingkindness teacher ­Sharon ­Salzberg.

“One of the largest sources of awe for people is seeing goodness in others. It’s moral beauty.”

Salzberg acknowledges the challenging divisions we currently face and says that we have to face them honestly. But more than anything, she emphasizes, seeing the good in others energizes her to sustain her work.

“I just feel so uplifted, even in the midst of difficulty,” she explains. “We all have the capacity for love and kindness, and connecting to that possibility is so energizing.”

When psychiatrist Judith Joseph, MD, MBA, recognized her exhausted-yet-restless state as depression, she took stock and noticed how the people around her were affecting her energy.

“I am now intentional to surround myself with people whose energy I want to exude,” Joseph says. She credits her circle of family, friends, and colleagues for helping her tap into more joy and courage in her life.

Joseph’s daughter reminds her to create and play, and her partner models unconditional love. Her siblings provide support and honest feedback, while her best friend represents the gold standard of how to be a loyal friend.

Meanwhile, colleagues and mentors inspire her with their discipline and persistence in the face of setbacks.

“I’m motivated and ener­gized by the life I want to live,” says professional off-road cyclist and Life Time Grand Prix competitor Sarah Sturm. “I love the freedom and the privilege of getting out on my bike every single day, and my energy comes from wanting to keep doing that.”

Sturm is exhilarated by experiencing new places and taking on physical challenges with other people. For example, each January she participates in a four-day group ride that ­traverses more than 460 miles along the California coast.

“It’s really hard at times,” she says. “But there’s something special about knowing that a whole group of people are having the same experience as you.”

The trails, lakes, and forests near his home in north-central Minnesota are what energize naturopathic physician Alan Christianson, ND. “I love Nordic skiing, hiking, running, fat-biking, snowshoeing — whenever there’s a reason to exercise out in the elements,” he says.

A longtime endurance athlete, Christianson admits that he can push himself too hard. “Sometimes what I think I can do gets a little unrealistic,” he says. Rather than relying on natural stimulants like caffeine or supplements to hack his energy levels, Christianson has become more interested in tuning in.

“We get out of sync with the natural world when we don’t have a pronounced recess,” he notes. “If I feel low-energy, I’m probably behind on rest.”

Caring for the health and well-being of others is both fulfilling and depleting, so integrative nutritionist Jesse Haas, CNS, LN, takes time to recharge. “I get a lot of juice from solo time, particularly solitude in nature,” she says.

Haas’s favorite activities, canoeing and hiking, allow her to feel present in her body. “To be able to use all of my senses — to feel the sun, hear the forest and water sounds, be fully immersed in wild spaces — that does it for me,” she says.

Since she can’t always get away for a 10-mile hike or a weeklong canoe trip, Haas enjoys nature “snacks” — whether walking with her dog and partner or paddling her city’s lakes.

This article originally appeared as “Good Energy” in the May/June 2026 issue of Experience Life.