There are five pillars of personal well-being that make up the holistic approach to taking care of ourselves and others. Listen in as Jenn Malinowski, Well-Being Champion at Consumers Energy, talks about passion for well-being and where it came from.
Transcription:
William Krieger
Hello everyone and welcome to Me You Us, a well-being podcast. It’s another well-being Wednesday here at Consumers Energy. And I’m your host Bill Krieger. Today my guest is Jen Malinowski she is a well-being champion here at Consumers Energy. So, Jen, if you’d introduce yourself, we’ll get the conversation started.
Jenn Malinowski
Thanks so much, Bill. So, I’m Jen Malinowski. I’m so excited to be here today with Bill. And to kind of give everybody a little bit of a deeper dive into what my new role is, as well as Randy’s for wellbeing champions. My background has been in corporate wellness for over 15 years, as well as health coaching, and even owning my own personal well-being studio. So, so excited again to be here. Thanks, Bill.
William Krieger
Well, I’m excited to have you. And you know, you are a well-being champion. And I think there might be people out there who are thinking, what does she do all day for a living? So, could you talk a little bit about what is a well-being champion and how do you make a living doing that?
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, absolutely. So, it’s really trying to connect individuals to wellness resources. And I think back in the day, you know, specifically, sometimes wellness got a bad rap, because a lot of times, people would just think it had to focus on nutrition, or on exercise. And again, those things are super important, and we don’t want to neglect them. But there’s so many different other dimensions and pillars of total well-being. And that’s why I really like to encompass well-being and not just wellness. So really, my role is to help our associates and their spouses and get them connected with these different wellbeing resources that we have at Consumers Energy. So, it can be anything from physical activity to financial well-being, to even just, you know, mental well-being, I think after COVID, we can all agree that we all need that. And just getting individuals connected to some of those resources, like I mentioned, you know, specifically headspace is one of the amazing resources that we do have at Consumers for mental wellbeing and just plugging into, you know, some of those some of those sessions that we can all take advantage of.
William Krieger
So, I like what you mentioned there about holistic and kind of the difference between wellness, and well-being. So, I do appreciate that. When we talk about the pillars of well-being though, what exactly does that look like? I mean, what are the pillars, what supports our well-being?
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, so like I mentioned, there’s so many different aspects that do support it. And the way that I like to describe it is to kind of think of a sheaf of wheat. So individually unique, but together complete. So again, each of these dimensions are very important, but together, when we intertwine them, it really is going to create that total holistic approach that really is going to help all of us. So again, that can be financial, that can be the way that we fuel our body, with our food choices. It can be just movement, it doesn’t have to be killing ourselves in the gym, but just simply getting up stretching, are we breathing, you know, mental well-being. So again, taking advantage of just simply doing breathing exercises, doing some meditation, sometimes just maybe needing five minutes in between meetings to have some mental clarity. So again, all of these different aspects and dimensions are really going to work together to kind of overall, make sure that we are living our best versions of ourselves. And that’s why I’m so excited that this year, our campaign for our new Wellness Portal through WellRight, for Livewell 365, our campaign is “me at my best”. And I think that this is really going to be a great year for all of us to kind of utilize these different pillars and dimensions to figure out what that means for each of us. Because you know, getting into intrinsic values, what your version of your best self is going to be, may look completely different than what my version is. And I want people to know that that’s okay, that we need some of that diversity and that we should be looking intrinsically at what’s important based on our values and our beliefs on what makes sense for our own internal well-being version.
William Krieger
I can hear in your voice, Jen, that you have a real passion like you don’t just come to work because it’s your job to work because you really like it. So, what brought you to this, like you’ve been at Consumers for a very short period of time, but you’ve done a lot of other things. What kind of brought you into this arena and where’s this passion coming from?
Jenn Malinowski
Oh, gosh, that’s such a great question, so how much time does everybody have? Um, I’ll try to wrap it up quickly. But there’s so many different things I want to say I think it really started in early childhood, you know, my father had a heart attack in 1995. So I was only in fifth grade, he, you know, looking at him, he looked very healthy, you know, was a runner, 175 pounds, you know, back then they didn’t really check your cholesterol, he was only 40 years old. Luckily, he survived the heart attack, ended up having a pacemaker later. But at an early age, just seeing that it really kind of turned my world upside down. And it made me realize that we can’t always judge a book by its cover. So being healthy again, means so many different things. It doesn’t just mean a number on the scale, even though yes, that can be important, obviously. But it made me realize, okay, how do I want to live a long, happy, healthy life. So that was the first thing that kind of got embedded or seeded into me that really got me passionate about helping people. I just truly love helping people, if it’s educating them through lunch, and learns on blood pressure, or stress management or movement, or whatever it is. That’s really where the foundation first came from. From there, I’d say that I always kind of felt I was always a little bit different. You know, I grew up in a Polish family, my mom’s from Poland, we always grew up with fruits and vegetables, lots of healthy items to eat in the household. But my whole family was primarily thin naturally, and I wasn’t. So, I always felt a little bit different. And I realized that comparison is, you know, the thief of joy. It really is. And as I got older, I kind of had this personal well-being mission, that I wanted people to realize it’s not a one size fits all approach with well-being. And again, that really kind of encompasses and brings us back to that campaign this year for me at my best. And I really, that’s kind of how I got here. I started with health coaching, again, helping individuals really see their intrinsic values and how it’s important and how we can make it work in their lifestyle, versus me trying to dictate to somebody what to do, I think we can all agree that never works when somebody tells you what to do. But really just finding what works for individuals, and how we can kind of grow upon their values and beliefs, like I mentioned, within wellbeing has really brought me to this place working with individuals and working in corporate wellness, and again, assisting with all those different dimensions.
William Krieger
Well, Jen, I want to go back to something that you said, because it really struck a chord with me, when you talk about how comparison can kill your joy. You know, when you talk about, you know, families and, and people, some people being naturally slim and others not being naturally slim, I know that when I was in middle school, which was quite a ways before 1995, I got to admit, I was I was the fat kid in middle school. And I remember not only was I comparing myself to other people, but people were comparing me to other people, it was a very, very tough time. But learning how to take care of myself, learning how to be healthy, learning how to accept who I was, was all a very important part of that. And it sounds like that’s kind of the journey that you were on as well. And so, I appreciate you talking about that. And it must have also been a very scary time when your father has a heart attack. I don’t want to ever say it’s something it’s expected with certain individuals but certainly was not expected with your father. And it sounds like that shaped a lot around how you look at this holistic way of taking care of people.
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you kind of brought up your own experience, because I think as adults, it’s really interesting that sometimes we don’t talk about it enough. But we forget that all of those childhood events, like they really still impact us today. You know, and again, we sometimes forget about that. And for me, I agree with you, I remember, same thing, being in middle school and being going through a phase I was like the chubby kid, and all of that. And that really does stick with us. And so that’s why it really has been important for me to help others realize that they have so many great gifts already and talents, and not to necessarily focus on, you know, back in the day when they felt like they were compared to anyone. And again, that really wellness and well-being is going to entail more than just one aspect and how can we really tap into that? And how can we really tap in again to their values and beliefs and instead of us telling them what to do, how can we cultivate something called change talk, which is you know them thinking about how would their life be different If they change certain things based on what their personal well-being goals are?
William Krieger
And you know, another thing too is we’ve talked about it a couple of times all the different pillars of well-being, but they all impact one another. So, if my, you know, financial well-being isn’t where it needs to be, it can affect my mental or my physical well-being as well as other aspects of my well-being. So, the importance of all those intertwined, interrelated pieces of who we are, are so very, very important.
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, I agree with you exactly. Like we kind of discussed even at the beginning, like that sheaf of wheat, I love people to get that visual in their head, because again, individually unique, but together complete. So, it is like a domino effect. You’re absolutely right, Bill. So, if one thing doesn’t seem or seems a little out of place, it can absolutely affect emotional. other areas, you might even feel like lethargic, you may not be sleeping well, which is going to be impacting your mental well-being, and that’s going to then impact your energy, then you’re not going to be feel motivated to move. So absolutely, they all definitely impact each other.
William Krieger
Well, and I don’t want to discount to what you said, I’m kind of all over the map, but you said so many great things like when you talk about how the things that we grew up with, impact us even in our lives today, so you know, being that I just used the word fat kid, cuz that’s what I was. And I don’t use that as a judgment on anybody else, I’m just talking about me. But being that fat kid in middle school, there are times where I’m at home, or I’m out or I’m doing something, and I’m still that fat kid in middle school, because it never really does leave you. But you just have to learn how to use that as a source of power rather than as a source of making yourself feel bad.
Jenn Malinowski
I absolutely agree with you. And I think sometimes too, as an adult, it kind of teaches us how to be a little bit more compassionate as well. And just to kind of view how society has like, molded us at an early age to kind of think that way. You know, even in my past experience, you know, I owned a gym in Grand Rapids, Michigan, before I moved back to Metro Detroit. And I’ll never forget, I had a client who, when we were simply just warming up and just doing some brisk walking or jogging, they had a breakdown, and they started crying. Because they thought of themselves back at the age of eight in gym class, feeling like they were being chosen, you know, you’d have the team captains and sometimes people would get chosen last. So, it’s interesting that I’ve seen even just in movement, how people end up having these emotional breakthroughs, as they’re working out. Because they are so intertwined together, and because we don’t really ever lose those life experiences from back in the day. But sometimes those breakthroughs are beneficial because it makes us realize, or makes us even think about, okay, how do we want to approach things differently? How do we maybe want to raise our children differently, If we have kids? How are we going to talk more compassionately to our coworkers, colleagues or spouses or friends? So, I think that it makes a difference, even though we can’t change those life experiences, but how we’re going to move forward to kind of leave this world a better place.
William Krieger
You know, I also want to expound on giving people choices, rather than telling people what to do, because I think you’re right, telling people what to do, usually doesn’t work out well. There are some cases like in the military, where it works pretty well. But you still have to give them the why you can’t just tell them to do it. So, when we talk about choices, what are some of the choices that we are offering our coworkers here at consumers? And what are maybe some of the choices that are available to people who are listening who don’t work for consumers?
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, that’s a great question. So, one of the choices that we’re offering, you know, I mentioned it earlier, extremely beneficial is we have a partnership with Headspace, so, it’s a completely free resource to our employees. And then we’re looking to also have that be an offering for spouses as well for this year. So again, if you’re not familiar with headspace, completely free for our full-time employees. And then what’s nice about it is that you can have really the option of determining how you want to utilize it. So, if you only have even one minute between a meeting and you feel like you need like a mental kind of recharge or break, you can do a one-minute meditation session through headspace. Even I know for myself, I really like the evening meditations. So, if you feel like you’re having a difficult time falling asleep in the evening, that’s another option too. So, there’s just really an array of different meditation variations that can really help, specifically I personally really enjoy the breath work the most. I think we forget how important just simply breathing and slowing down our breath, how that can truly benefit the body. I mean, it can really reduce our blood pressure within just a matter of minutes, it can really calm down our mind. So, I would definitely, highly recommend that as one of the top resources that we offer for our employees and spouses. You know, other things that we’re going to be offering this year that I’m really excited about is our new well-being platform. So still Livewell 365. But instead of limeade, we are now partnering with WellRight. So super excited, because we’re going to have different challenges monthly that our associates can participate in, you can even use different virtual aspects to chat with your colleagues for accountability. And then too, you can also utilize the platform to earn different reward points. So, this is going to be kind of like a reward mall where you can earn different types of gift cards, versus back in the day, it was just Amazon. But we’re excited because this is going to be a great way for our associates to be able to connect, and also ways that we can incorporate personal things that we’re doing at Consumers, for individuals to also earn well-being points. So specifically, Randy and I are going to be launching some well-being lunch and learns. And we’re hopefully going to be launching those by this springtime. And we’re going to be kicking that off with the first lunch and learn that I will be doing which is going to be cultivating your own wellness vision. And that’s going to really go hand in hand with our “me at my best” campaign for this year.
William Krieger
So, lots of great choices, lots of great stuff out there. And while headspace is free for all of our coworkers, if you’re listening to this podcast, and you don’t work for Consumers Energy, it is available in the App Store and the Android store, and I think probably online. So, there’s lots of different ways to get that it’s really definitely worth checking out. Now, Jen, we did not talk about this before we started recording this podcast, but you brought it up. You talked about headspace and meditation. And so I was wondering, would you mind meditating with me, I’ve found some headspace SOS meditations, there are a couple of minutes long, but I really like to give the audience kind of a flavor for what this means; because meditation doesn’t necessarily mean you know, sitting in a yoga pose, in a dark room and chanting, there’s really some great stuff that comes from it. So, would you be willing to take a risk with me and maybe do a quick meditation?
Jenn Malinowski
Absolutely. I love that.
William Krieger
Alright Jen, since you’re excited about it and I’m excited about it, let’s do something different. We always talk about maybe feeling overwhelmed or maybe feeling panicky. But sometimes I lose my temper. And while I have not done this meditation before, so this would be the first for both of us. I’d like to try this losing your temper meditation. Let’s see how it goes. And then we’ll talk about it when it’s over. It’s about three minutes long. So, hang with us. We’re going to start this meditation right now.
Meditation
So, no matter how angry or frustrated you’re feeling right now, just take a moment to sit down and to close your eyes. Take one big deep breath, breathing in through your nose, and out through your mouth as you breathe out. Just for a moment, committing to letting go of the storyline, whatever’s caused this feeling of anger and frustration, and just bringing the attention into the body. I just like you to imagine when you sit in warm sunlight and sunshine, how it almost sort of thaws out the body, just going to imagine a steady stream of sunshine of sunlight flowing down from above the head into the body. As it washes down into the body as it flows down into the body. It just washes away any sense of anger, frustration of tension in the body. Just dissolving, melting away any areas of discomfort and allowing the space to let go of whatever storyline exists around that frustration. And just watching as the body begins to fill with that idea of liquid sunshine, starting at the toes and moving up through the feet into the legs. Moving up through the legs melting any tension just bringing a space, a sense of lightness of ease as it moves into the upper half of the body. And everything just softening that idea of sunshine, sense of warm knees as it travels up, now into the shoulders and down the arms. The body increasingly feeling at ease all the way into the hands of fingers. That sunlight now filling the neck and the throat all the way up into the face and the head. And the muscles just softening. In that image, that idea of warm sunlight. And when the entire body filled, that sense, warmth, and ease and just letting go of that image allowing the feeling to remain, and just bring the attention back into the body back to the space around you before gently opening the eyes again.
William Krieger
Alright, I gotta tell you, I think it would be pretty hard to be angry after that meditation.
Jenn Malinowski
I know, I love his voice, it’s so soothing.
William Krieger
Because I’ve listened to a lot of the different people in headspace. And there’s something about Andy’s voice that’s just like when he talks, you’re like, ‘Oh, I know that’s Andy.’ Like he didn’t even have to say who he is, you just know that that’s who it is.
Jenn Malinowski
I loved that he used a lot of imagery for the meditation, I find that for me personally, that really helps me when I feel overwhelmed or stressed is, you know, really visualizing, you know, like he mentioned the sun over the head or the stream kind of washing away all of your worries, that type of imagery I find is extremely beneficial when we feel overwhelmed.
William Krieger
There’s something else about the headspace app is that within there, there are certain meditations I do every day. But there’s this SOS section, where like, if I’m having a panic attack, or if I’m, you know, feeling overwhelmed, or if I’m feeling anxious, or if I’m in pain, I can go to this three minute meditation. And while it’s not going to make my life perfect, it’s going to help me in that moment. And so that’s what I really like about the app and the different things that are available there.
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, I agree with you, Bill. It’s nice that they do have a library of both options. Because one thing I like to kind of remind all of our listeners to is, you know, I want us to think about you know, we kind of we fireproof our house, or if we have kids, we make sure that it’s like baby or kid safe or when we own a car, we are really diligent to make sure we get our oil changed, and that we get our tires fixed. And I want us to really think about that in regard to our own internal body, you know, do we take the same approach when it comes to our mind and body? Do we have things kind of like these little tune-ups throughout the year for ourselves throughout even just our day for ourselves, and that’s why I love that they do have both library options for kind of like the SOS and the everyday meditations. Because I think it’s really important to get into a routine, where we start kind of implementing this, you know, throughout our week throughout our day, so that we don’t feel so burnt out, and that we have these little check in points per se.
William Krieger
Well, in one thing that I do, typically is I tend to get up early, I think it’s part of my military life. But I tend to get up early, and I will do some meditation, do some journaling, and then you know, have breakfast. But after the first day of the year, I started actually meditating with my wife. So, we both get up early now. And we meditate and we take some time in the morning to slow it down right at the beginning. And she doesn’t I work from home, um, you know, fortunately, I’m able to do that. She does not so she goes to an office every day. And even in the few days that we’ve been doing this, she’s noticed that it’s less of a struggle to get out the door. She doesn’t feel as hurried. You know, she’s more relaxed once she gets to work. And then we may do a meditation at night. But sometimes doing that meditation with a partner has benefits as well. So, I wanted to toss that out there as was something that we discovered in the last few days actually.
Jenn Malinowski
I 100% agree with you. And I don’t know if any of our listeners are familiar with what the Blue Zones are. But those are areas around the world where individuals have lived well over 100 years old and they study those areas. And what I find fascinating is, even though all of the well-being pillars are very important, they find that through research, the number one important pillar for individuals to live a long healthy lifestyle is social connectivity. So, I love that you brought that up Bill, because they do find doing activities with somebody else, typically not only holds you accountable, but they find people are actually much healthier and happier. And then even just incorporating some of that gratitude. So it sounds like you and your wife doing that journaling is also like you mentioned, it makes it a little bit easier for her to get out the door and that she feels a little bit happier when she starts her day.
William Krieger
Interestingly, you mentioned gratitude, because it is a gratitude journal that I keep I every morning, list 10 things that I’m thankful for from the day before. And sometimes we’re thankful for things that we really, when it’s happening, we don’t think we’re going to be thankful for it. But when we see the outcome, we are so I always try and practice gratitude for all that, that I have all that I’ve done. And all that’s good for my family, my friends, and my social network. So yes, we don’t want to forget about the importance of having this social connectivity. You know, especially with the last two years that we’ve been through where, you know, the key phrase was social distancing. And I’ve made the argument from the beginning that no, it’s physical distancing, we don’t want to practice social distancing we want to practice physical distancing. And there is a huge difference, because those two things will keep us healthy, being physically distant if we need to be, but maintaining those social connections, because I really think that that’s what we what we need as human beings.
Jenn Malinowski
100%. And actually, I have to give a little plug, I think that that’s for our own associates, I love that we have those open hours for diversity and inclusion, equality, I just, I love it. And for me, that is such a good opportunity to get some of that social connectivity for our own internal employees.
William Krieger
And for anyone who doesn’t know what Jen’s talking about, our office of diversity, equity inclusion has open office hours every Friday, from 10 to 11, where you can just come in, log in, and either listen to the discussion or participate in the discussion. And it’s been, I’ve noticed very therapeutic, not only for me, but for a lot of people. So be sure to check that out. If you want a link to it, you can go out to the DE&I site, and there’ll be links to get you there. If you’d struggle with that. Just reach out to me or any member of the DEI team, we’ll get you there. So, thank you for mentioning that Jen. I had not even thought about it’s just a part of what I do every week.
Jenn Malinowski
Oh, yeah. Just because Randy, the other well-being champion and myself, we always talk about this. Every Friday, when we leave those meetings, we just message each other like, gosh, I just feel so energized. Like I just got out of like an Oprah like pep rally or something. I mean, it really is like, amazing. And, and to me, I was like, gosh, this is so needed for everyone right now. Because to your point, Bill, it’s like, we still need to keep that social connectivity aspect alive.
William Krieger
You know, it’s part of what we’re doing right now, for folks who maybe can’t get into the office, because they work in the field, or, you know, they’re working from home, this is a great way for us to stay connected with our coworkers. And, you know, Jen, you joined the company at a time where we were all working from home. So again, this was something we had talked about, but how was that to come to work for a company without having really been inside the company for all intents and purposes? Everything was done remotely.
Jenn Malinowski
Yeah, that’s a good question. So, I was working remote and my previous job, so I was definitely used to it. But to your point, it definitely is different when you’re starting out somewhere new, and you haven’t had the opportunity to maybe meet somebody face to face. But I have to say just from day one, I was just blown away by the engagement. And just through all of the virtual meetings and people reaching out to myself and Randy, just if we needed anything. I mean, we even loved the new employee orientation. I mean, just everything is extremely hands on, extremely engaging. And what I feel like at consumers is that they genuinely care about their clients about who they’re servicing and about their employees. I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a better company and I feel very grateful. That’s part of my daily gratitude is that I work for a company that genuinely cares about well-being and having a work life balance. So even though I have yet to even meet you in person Bill, I feel like I know you so well. And I feel like everybody, I just, I just love the fact that everybody truly wears their heart on their sleeves, and that they really are supportive of one another. If it’s, you know, being a team leader with their colleagues, it genuinely shows.
William Krieger
This company has an amazing culture. I’ve worked in a lot of different places. In my lifetime, I’ve been here for going on 28 years now. But it is an amazing, amazing culture. And you really kind of sum that up and in what you said. So that’s what it is to be part of the Consumers Energy family. Well, Jen, I hate to say it, but we’re coming up on the end of the podcast. Already? Yes, we may have to do like Part Two or something at some point. But before I let you off the hook and let you go, first of all, I wanted to say, I appreciate you coming on and talking about what it is to be a well-being champion, you know, thanks for being a good sport and doing a meditation with me. I had fun with that, and really enjoyed it. But is there anything that you would like to leave the audience with? What would you like them to take away from this conversation?
Jenn Malinowski
I just really want them to take away the fact that I want them to genuinely know that they’re amazing. And, you know, we all have our own personal life experiences. But that we can really impact one another, through compassion, and the way that we approach things. And that again, each of us has something intrinsically that’s important to us, and that we can work on. And it’s not about being dictated what to do. But just by feeling like we have options. And at Consumers, there’s an array of options of well-being resources that are here for you, if you need them, or if you don’t need them. Or if you have questions, Randy and I are always here to help. And truly, I really do love what I do. And I love helping individuals. So I really hope that if anybody needs anything, or has questions, that they will not hesitate to reach out to Randy or I, because we really do want to connect people to those different resources and to really help individuals kind of cultivate what their wellness vision for 2022 is, and you know, help them with what is their best version of themselves and how we can help best support that.
William Krieger
Well, and I gotta admit, Jen, your passion and the love for the work that you do definitely shows through. A famous guy once said, if you find a job you love, you never have to work a day in your life. And it sounds like maybe you’re there.
Jenn Malinowski
I love it. Yes. So, I love helping anyone I can’t that is completely 100% an accurate statement, Bill.
William Krieger
All right. Well, thanks again for coming on Jen, taking time out of your busy day, to talk with me and to share your story with our audience. I think that definitely we’ll have to have a part two of this conversation because it seems like maybe there’s a lot more to go. And I look forward to that.
Jenn Malinowski
I would be honored. Thanks so much, Bill.
William Krieger
Thank you to the audience for listening in today. The Me You Us podcast is proudly sponsored by Consumers Energy leaving Michigan better than we found it. Remember, you can find the me you us podcast on all major podcasting platforms. So be sure to go out find us and subscribe. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. That’s 1-800-273-8255. If you are a veteran or know a veteran who is in crisis, you can call 1-800-273-8255 and press one for the Veterans Crisis Line. And remember to tune in every Wednesday, as we talk about the things that impact your personal well-being.
