Employee Wellness News

June 2025 Employee Wellness Newsletter

Posted May 28, 2025, 4:25 PM. Updated June 9, 2025, 10:22 AM.

Halfway done and time for some fun! School may be out, but the APS Thrive in 2025 year-long focus to reclaim health and harmony continues. Read below for reflection questions to overcome lifestyle inertia, reset, and recharge!

Change is hard but nothing is harder than being stuck where we don't belong.

We are approaching the halfway point of our Thrive in 2025 initiative to reclaim health and harmony.

To recap, we started this year by identifying Growth Goals instead of typical resolutions. However, to achieve any goal, we must have the energy to pursue it.

Enter - the Wellsprings for Energy Management! We embarked on this year-long journey to redefine and recapture our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy, so that we have the capacity to achieve goals that expand our intellectual, spiritual, and emotional well-being. When we cultivate meaning, purpose, community, and connection in our lives, we are intrinsically motivated to care for our health. Through these wellsprings and growth goals, we can experience harmony for ourselves and with others - this is what it means to thrive.

So, here we are in June. Almost at the halfway point. How ya' doin'?

Yeah. I know. For some of us, it may feel like smooth sailing, while others struggle to maintain a sustainable rhythm. Reality and life circumstances easily get in the way of our good intentions, no matter how hard we try. And I'm here to tell you - it's okay. It's OK to have setbacks. To stall, start, and stop again.

The vital point to hold on to is this: The effort isn't a loss. We are only stuck if we remain in the same place. The very fact that you've at least tried means you moved forward.

To be honest, this whole concept of growth and change can be challenging, especially if we've spent years entrenched in the same habits.

However, as the quote in the above graphic suggests, nothing is more painful than being stuck in a place where we don't belong.

We don't belong stuck in stress, depression, illness, or life dissatisfaction. We aren't designed to live in a mindset of complacency and disease acceptance. We are made for more - we're just not living in a way that honors our design.

This creates lifestyle inertia. Lifestyle inertia happens when we've allowed that slippery slope of acceptance to creep into our lives. When our social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual well-being erodes into life dissatisfaction and languishing. We essentially become physically sedentary, emotionally stagnant, and mentally dormant. Stuck in a place we don't belong.

The irony of feeling 'stuck' is that we are never truly in one place, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically, for long.

As humans, we either expand, progress, and grow, or stagnate, spiral, and decline. Languishing and inertia eventually dwindle our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Man pushing boulder uphill 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑎𝘥𝑎𝘱𝑡 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝘢𝑑𝘰𝑝𝘵 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘. Both the good and the bad. Since nothing happens with inertia until we choose to move and pivot our mindset, it's essential to be honest with ourselves and reflect.

Which is why we've started June's #Thrivein2025 month with a reflection week!

Here's a recap of reflection questions in our focus activity “𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑓𝑢𝑙” with goals, emotions & behaviors.

What goal did I have at the beginning of the year that I’ve either lost track of or has slipped off the list? (𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦?)
What habits are hindering me from achieving my wellness & growth goals? (𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝.)
Do I expect to be as strong and agile two years from now as I am today? (𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛/𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑜𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 & 𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒.)
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹, 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹, 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒂? (𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.)

For many of us, answering these questions on our own can be challenging. The help of a qualified wellness coach or counselor can really help identify areas for change and reset with small, actionable steps. APS offers a suite of health coaching solutions! See below for more information.

Taking action to improve our situation is the genesis of our Thrive in 2025 year: to get unstuck and start living a life of joy, community, meaning, purpose, and belonging. To reclaim health and harmony!

So, are you ready to try again? Consider June as the new January - a time to reconnect with that whisper of your soul that says, "Yes! I am made for more, and I belong actively participating in life!" APS Employee Wellness offers several options to help you achieve this shift. Keep scrolling below and email employee.wellness@aps.edu if you have any questions.

June Focus Activities on Wellness at Work

This month, we're revisiting key concepts for physical and emotional energy management with "reflect, reset, and recharge" activities.

We began the year by laying the foundation for our physical well-being, focusing on energy management through a balanced approach to nutrition, regular movement, and adequate rest. Then, we transitioned into the emotional wellspring—the quality of our emotions through stress, anger, frustration, burnout, and interpersonal communication that sap our strength and lead to conflict, depression, anxiety, physical illness, and life languishing.

It's important to note that the quality of our emotions doesn't have to be negative. We give and receive renewing energy when we cultivate joy, compassion, encouragement, and support.

That's what our June activities are all about! Read more and participate by joining the APS Employee Wellness "Group" on Wellness at Work.

Reflect ~ Reset ~ Recharge

June 2-8: Reflect “Staying Thoughtful” - A week to reflect on what growth goals you want, what works, what doesn't, and how to make sustainable changes for individual well-being.
June 9-15: Reset “Bit of Everything” nutrition focus & “Exercise Break” movement focus. This is a great week to reset the foundations of energy-giving nutrition and movement.
June 23-29: Recharge - “Make Time for Play” & “Disconnect to Reconnect Digital Detox”. Let's have some fun without all the digital noise! This week, we'll focus on playtime, exploring what "play" and joyful activity can mean for different people, and the benefits of time away from devices.
We will also have weekend walk-offs!

Simple steps to participate in Thrive activities:

If you haven't already done so, join the Wellness at Work wellness incentive platform.

Join the APS Employee Wellness group. (Click "social" and browse "groups," find the APS Employee Wellness group, and join to receive invitations to nutrition reset activities, "sugar-free me" cleanse, kitchen-clean up, movement challenges, stress, and burnout-busting activities, and so much more!)
Under "Social," click "Events Calendar." Browse and read the information daily or weekly. The information is also duplicated in the APS Employee Wellness event calendar.
Earn wellness incentive points for rewards and ongoing gift card prizes for participation throughout the year! (Gift card prizes are in addition to your wellness incentive point rewards.)

Please join the "APS Employee Wellness Group" on the Wellness at Work platform to participate in challenges and be eligible for additional raffle prizes. This step ensures you receive invitations to join challenges when they arise. You can also pick and choose which challenges to participate in throughout the year.

Three Great Programs That Include One Personalized Benefit - Health Coaching!

Picture with three ways to receive health coaching through APS benefits.

If this mid-year motivation is getting you pumped, but you're unsure how to ply yourself from the same place, health coaching is the perfect avenue to redirect, reflect, and reset! Try one of these APS programs that offer personalized health coaching and enroll today!

1. Health Coaching: Open to all APS employees. Get help shifting lifestyle habits, managing a chronic illness, weight loss to improve health, or simply feel better. APS offers free Health Coaching for all employees.

2. Livongo is an integrated program for diabetes, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, and weight loss. Livongo offers wrap-around, integrated mental health services and health coaching. *This program is open to all eligible employees and dependents covered under APS Benefits.

Getting started is easy!

Text “GO APS” to 85240 to learn more and join
Join by visiting https://www.livongo.com/aps
Call 800-945-4355 and use the registration code: APS

3. Hinge Health: Get the relief you need to feel and function better with this virtual physical therapy program by Hinge Health. Hinge Health gives you the tools you need to conquer joint and muscle pain including back, neck, knee, and shoulder pain, recover from injuries, prepare for surgery, and stay healthy and pain-free. Hinge Health also offers a one-of-a-kind, industry-leading women's pelvic floor program.

Click here and learn more to register. Begin your journey today with a team of physical therapists and health coaches! *Hinge Health is available at no cost to employees covered under the APS Benefits plans and eligible dependents.

Breathing Room - Downloading in 3-2-1...

Life on mindfulness with line on Youth on Mindfulness program.

Summer is here and, while it may be a bit hot in New Mexico, we chill our mindset with meditation. The cool thing about mindfulness is that we can practice it anytime, anywhere, and in whatever season we find ourselves in. The APS Life on Mindfulness program is free, flexible and available to all APS employees as well as the youth in their lives!

Have you checked out the new platform? It's mobile phone optimized, so you don't even need to worry about downloading another pesky app!

NEW LIVE SCHEDULE Monday - Friday

11:45-11:55 am: 10 min. meditation
11:55 - 12 pm: 5-minute stretch break
12-12:20 pm: 20 min. meditation

Feel free to join or leave at any time. According to the above schedule, Michelle begins the sessions at 11:45 a.m. and keeps things continuously flowing until 12:20 p.m.

Note: The same schedule and Zoom link apply Monday through Friday. The link is also conveniently located in the APS Employee Wellness event calendar.

To Log in:

If you have not enrolled in the Life on Mindfulness program, enroll here.
If you are enrolled, click this link: https://themindfulcenter.com/login/ and go to the top right, orange "member login" button.
Enter the email that you registered with.
Enter the new password: LOMPREMIUM

The site is 'mobile-ready,' meaning you can view and listen to meditations via your phone anytime, anywhere. Each week, new meditations are available, along with recorded past meditations and featured workshops.

NEW! Youth on Mindfulness Page on the Life on Mindfulness Platform

Bring mindfulness to your students and add another Goal 4 skillset to your classroom! The Mindful Center has added a Youth on Mindfulness page. This is free for APS employees and educators can use any meditations for classroom use. These mediations are suitable for students 10-18 years old.