045: Chronic Illness & Courage to Start Over I David Zimmerman

Written By Sandi Serling

A near-fatal health crisis becomes the catalyst for a total life reset for our guest, David Zimmerman, who also happens to be Sandi’s son. Listen to his journey from sensitive, anxious kid to high-performing tech product manager, and finally to founder of a purpose-driven olive oil brand, Zimms Organics.  

We hear how David’s sudden internal bleeding, Crohn’s diagnosis, and repeated hospitalizations collided with a high-stress consulting career and a broken medical system. He shares the fear he hid, the identity loss that comes with chronic illness, and the moment he decided he could not stay on the same path.  

David walks us through how research, lab work, and a daily ritual with high polyphenol olive oil helped reduce his inflammation and rebuild trust with his body. We explore the role of meditation, spirituality, and intuition in healing, plus what it really took to walk away from a prestigious job, create an organic olive oil brand, and eventually rebrand it to Zimms Organics by making his own story the heart of it.

After leaving his corporate job, David dove back into his creative side, writing music and spoken-word poetry while building Zimms Organics. That freed up mental space and lit something up. He released his first full-length album shortly after, a mix of spoken-word poetry and hip-hop called HORIZONS.

Listeners learn about self-advocacy, listening to their gut, and finding meaning in the unknown.

In this episode, you will hear:

  • Childhood sensitivity, anxiety, and learning to build emotional resilience  

  • The role of self-advocacy, second opinions, and questioning “one size fits all” treatment  

  • Discovering high polyphenol olive oil, lab testing, and data-driven healing experiments  

  • Meditation, spirituality, and intuition as tools for managing fear and stress  

  • Leaving a prestigious consulting career to build Zimms Organics around his healing journey  

  • Redefining success through health, service, creative expression, and freedom of time  

Resources from this Episode

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Music by Katy Samwell https://katysamwell.com/high-vibrational-music

***

This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of FEAR UNZIPPED®, its subsidiaries, or any entities they represent. This podcast is not intended as a substitute for a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist or other qualified professional.

Sandi Serling
Next

044: What Prison Taught About Fear, Safety & Freedom | Oneika Mays