This past March at her STRONG cover shoot in Toronto, Canada, Crystal Perdue experienced a personally historic moment: a freak late-season flurry, her first time seeing (and feeling) snow in more than 20 years. Mid-pose under the blinding stage lights, her attention couldn’t help but be pulled in the direction of the studio’s window, peppered with heavenly flakes.
“I don’t even have any winter clothes!” she said, laughing. You can’t blame her: after a two-decade residency in Costa Rica, parkas and mittens are mercifully the last things on her mind.
Crystal’s life in Central America isn’t just an interesting piece of trivia; the region has helped shape her family life, her therapy practice, and her approach to health and wellness. And thankfully for those not living close to the equator, the lessons she’s learned can be embraced by people everywhere—even those living in freezing temps well into spring.
No Place Like Home
Like Dorothy, Crystal’s roots are in small-town Kansas, where she learned the importance of resilience and physical activity from her mother, who she remembers as “a bubbly blonde”—much like the woman Crystal presents as today.
Being raised by a single parent had its own series of challenges. “She had very limited resources and did the best she could raising my sister and I,” Crystal recalls. But despite the struggles, her mom stepped up in numerous ways to show her daughters what was possible with the right mindset and a bit of initiative: first achieving her GED in her thirties and later literally “stepping up” by teaching step aerobics classes to members of their Midwestern community.
Crystal’s business melds therapy with wellness to support full mind-body health. Just look to her tagline: “Train your brain, transform your life!”
“My mom always encouraged us to stay active—bike riding or dancing or doing something of that nature,” Crystal says. “Her story planted that seed in me that it doesn’t matter what age you are—you can change. I was really proud of her.”
But unlike Dorothy, it wasn’t a tornado that eventually brought Crystal to the lush, foreign backdrop of Central America: it was her marriage. She met her ex-husband, whose parents are Costa Rican, on American soil, and after three years of marriage and the arrival of their daughter, Isabel, they decided to settle down in his family’s home country.
“I wanted to instill a sense of global awareness in my children,” Crystal says about their choice to relocate. “We wanted them to know there was more than just one country, one language, one way of thinking.” A cosmopolitan way of life, the couple agreed, was best for their burgeoning family. As a bonus, Crystal’s family by marriage embraced her with open arms, and shortly after the move they welcomed their son, Nico, marking the completion of their family unit.
Or so Crystal thought.
“We all have those old internal messages that sometimes create barriers for us to accomplish our goals.”
A Familial Evolution
After nearly 20 years of coupledom, Crystal realized something that becomes clear to many women in midlife: the relationship she once had with her significant other had eroded irreversibly. Just months before COVID, they came to the conclusion that it was time to move on, for their health and happiness, and for their children’s.
“It really came over a period of time; it wasn’t a dramatic ending,” says Crystal. “We really became roommates, just cohabiting. We’d really grown far apart, emotionally, and being a therapist, I knew this was more than just a season in our marriage.”
In the end, Crystal believes their family was only strengthened by this difficult but necessary decision. Her ex found a position in Florida, only a short flight from Costa Rica, while their kids opted to stay with their mother, who had formed both community roots and a business presence in her adopted home. It’s the best of all worlds: Isabel and Nico have the opportunity to visit their father in Miami during school breaks, and Crystal is able to maintain her lifestyle while amicably co-parenting her children. And she couldn’t do it without the assistance of her extended family.
“I’m very, very blessed to have such supportive, loving in-laws, even to this day. It’s amazing,” she shares. “And [my ex] is a very present father, even though we’re not living in the same country.”
Finding Her Place in the Sun
Initially, Crystal was worried how her divorce would be interpreted by her neighbors and clients. After all, Costa Rica is a notoriously Catholic country, and as a therapist, she was concerned it might affect the confidence others have in her professional abilities.
But her worries were quickly dashed. And following some personal reflection, Crystal realized her experience made her even more adept at her craft. “I think it’s made me a better therapist because now I can really help people identify what you can do in your marriage to ensure it’s not like clocking in and out of a job,” she notes. She was also determined to set and surpass personal goals she let fall to the wayside during her marriage, including improving her Spanish, the official local language. Her kids are especially inspirational in that respect: her son is now attending university in the U.S., and her daughter is a student at New York University Shanghai.
“It’s really cool to have bilingual and trilingual kids,” she says with pride. “I’m from a small town in Kansas—I wasn’t exposed to a lot, especially languages. And I’m still learning how to navigate in Spanish. I can communicate with it well in everyday life, but my professional Spanish isn’t great. Then again, as I always say, my goal isn’t really perfection but connection.”
“I always say, my goal isn’t really perfection but connection.”
Fit in Body, Fit in Mind
That same mindset can be applied to her physical goals, too. Last year, at the age of 53, Crystal took another big leap: preparing for her first Bikini competition.
“If you had told me years ago that I would willingly stand under bright lights, in a bikini and heels, being judged on my physique, I would have laughed,” she says. “Not because I didn’t value health or fitness, since I’ve always been very active, but because it required a level of visibility and vulnerability that pushed me far beyond my comfort zone.” And as much as she admired the women she had seen take the stage, it was actually her career as a clinical therapist that convinced her to try something new.
“I use a lot of neuroscience and cognitive behavioral therapy in my practice—neuroplasticity is so powerful,” explains Crystal. “We all have those old internal messages that sometimes create barriers for us to accomplish our goals.” The brain games that she shares with her clients—the ones that help them break those mental patterns that lead them to question their abilities—are the very ones that allowed her to see her goal to the finish, even when things seemed to get especially dicey. For instance, moments before posing for the judges, she found out that her work was cut out for her: as there was no Masters category in this particular competition, she would be up against athletes as young as 19 years old. Still, with the power of positive thinking in her corner, she took the stage with aplomb, making herself and her coaches, Diana Avila and Daniela Segura, (on page 55) proud.
Her fitness journey didn’t end there. After prepping for more than 10 months and walking away with positive feedback from the judges (“In the right category, with your stage presence, you would have totally won,” she was told) Crystal treated herself to a photoshoot—which is how she ended up in the January/February 2026 issue of STRONG, demonstrating a push-your-limits back workout. From there, as they say, the rest is history.
“If you had told me years ago that I would willingly stand under bright lights, in a bikini and heels, being judged on my physique,
I would have laughed.”
Global Takeaways
Crystal’s in-clinic work and her in-gym stage prep mirror each other in many ways. She’s quick to point out that, though her beautiful surroundings certainly help improve her mindset, exercise can have a positive effect on mood and outlook, no matter where you are in the world. In fact, she often prescribes it to her clients as a supplement to the work they do in their therapy sessions.
“I tell people, when you’re having an anxious moment, do a wall squat or a plank,” she says. “Get your body to where your nervous system can get grounded! I usually start my mornings with movement, like a walk outside—it’s really important to me. Strength training plays an important role, too. I love to lift heavy. It’s great for you as you age, and I feel it helps keep me youthful.”
And before you scoff at the thought of a person living in paradise telling you to get outside, Crystal has you covered. If you have a treadmill or other equipment at home, she says, move it near a window, and if that’s not an option, simply head outdoors for a few minutes to soak up some rays so your body can produce mood-boosting vitamin D. Every bit helps!
Acknowledging your mindset and what that means for your motivation is paramount, too. Crystal tells her clients that when you wake up, if you fear it’s going to be a crappy day, don’t avoid that feeling—lean into it and recognize how you’re perceiving the world around you. Next, counter it by making a list of what you have to be thankful for, whether it’s in your head or in your journal.
“Lean in with gratitude,” she counsels. “What do you have? And what can you personally do in terms of making that mindset shift?”
For Crystal, that might be taking her beloved dog, Luna, for a walk. For you, it might be sitting down to enjoy that first cup of coffee in peace, or setting your schedule for the coming week, so you feel more in control. Whatever your approach, heed Crystal’s words of advice: “Live in abundance. Tell yourself you’re worthy. Only then you will be able to see amazing things start to happen in your life.”
With that approach, even those living in a city experiencing sporadic snowfall well into spring will be able to maintain a disposition sunny enough for the sumptuous forests and pristine beaches of Costa Rica.
Blue Zone Benefits
Crystal knows better than anyone the plus side of living in Costa Rica: pristine weather, the amazing array of animals (sloths and capuchin monkeys are among her favorites), and the vibrant, welcoming culture that she has personally found a home within. Another feather in Costa Rica’s proverbial cap: the World Happiness Report 2026 listed it as the fourth happiest country in the world, the highest ranking of any Central American country since they began releasing the report in 2012.
But its population also benefits from another health-related phenomenon. Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula is one of the five globally recognized Blue Zones, areas of the world that have the largest population of people aged 100 and older. One of Crystal’s friends actually produces a longevity-focused supplement within this region: almä, a daily aloe vera supplement designed to support a happy, healthy gastrointestinal tract. “I always say to clients that your gut is your second brain!” Crystal points out. For more information and to purchase, visit almadaily.com.
