Now the 419 with Gretchen de Bakker.

Might kill them.

And Kevin.

Mullin up.

Welcome into the 419, powered by and presented by Retro Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullins, Gretchen.

Yeah.

Matt's glasses are so dirty that I. I don't know how he's, like seeing you.

So let me tell you something.

I think people put.

Is you look the wrong direction.

I appreciate that.

Like the the rol that each of us play on the show is that Gretchen is sort of like the mom on the show, but you own it.

Yeah.

Like, you, you actually g out of your way to be our mom.

I don't think you need to.

Gender.

Is it?

It's just caring.

Yeah.

It's just caring for other people.

That looks stupid.

Yeah.

That's the kind o mother got my to do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, Apple.

Happy April fools.

Day.

April fools day.

And today is, my momo's seventh birthday.

Yeah, the big day.

So I got her the seven.

Yeah.

That's right.

Yeah.

This is the big one.

Yeah.

This is.

This is what you got her for her birthday.

That's right.

The shout out Be away from her in the morning.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So this is what she has for all the mornings.

Oh my goodness.

Did you guys.

Was April Fool's like, a big thing growing up?

Do you still celebrate in any way?

I remember they would, like teachers would try to do stuff at school like little.

I don't, but I don't remember anything specific.

No, I don't remember it being that big of a day.

I we I'm not a prankster.

I'm never.

Yeah.

Then just to never when my family doesn't, like, pull pranks.

So although my bro is into it my my daughter has been working on several things.

Like a workshop in a club.

I was supposed, yes.

I'm not supposed to know this, but she has, she has like, a fake cast that I think I'll be seeing later today.

Oh my God.

So that's honest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I can never find the.

The line between, like, this is really good, and this is too far.

Like, you know, someone's dead last year.

That's right.

No.

Last year, I pulled off what I thought was a fantastic April Fool's Day prank on social media.

That I put up a post that, after initially getting the news that I didn't get the job.

Oh, as the announcer for the Tigers.

Yeah, the guy they hired couldn't make it.

And so I'm getting called up to the big leagues, and I will be announcing the Tigers game later.

Yeah.

That day.

The reason why that was a problem is one I was legitimately a finalist for.

That did the trick.

They were like 5 or 6 of us invited to.

Yeah, like try out.

And so that was true.

And I posted about that.

Oh, you're an announcer.

That's right.

And I think.

5 or 6, I think you actually do, you know that the other individuals, are they from all.

Over?

Most of them were from the Detroit area.

Okay.

I think there was one that was, like, wildly out of state.

And then I was coming, obviously from Ohio.

So.

And I knew when I left the audition that I didn't get it.

Oh, like, I just it was as I was drivin home, it finally clicked like, oh, that's what they that's what they wanted me to do.

And I didn't do it.

Oh, shoot.

Okay.

Which is fine.

Yeah.

Sure.

So anyway.

So then, you know, fast forward, I don't get it.

I posted, I don't get it, you know.

And then I announced that I do.

Well, we're talking August of last year.

I get a call from a frien or a text that says, I'm here.

You sound great.

Oh, no.

And I'm like, what are you talking about?

Yeah, they were at the Tigers game convinced it was me.

And so excited to be there with me and I. It instantl the post went south in a hurry because it went from me like playing a joke to people commenting genuinely kind, sweet things.

Yeah.

Like you've worked so hard.

Not to do.

That again.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Your long estranged da finally acknowledged you.

Yeah.

I said what?

My son.

My thought for this year was to post that I just got a message from UT that in keeping up with technology, the replacing me with an AI announcer.

And I think that would be fun.

Yeah But I. Also announced that 100%.

Of the new hosts of the Today show.

No one's going to believe that.

Oh, yeah, and it's also today.

Oh, that's.

So you start tomorrow.

Yeah.

Where?

Hosted the tomorrow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's right.

But today was the tomorrow shows.

Yeah.

In addition to today being April Fools Day.

Yes.

It is also wellness Wednesday.

Matt.

What are we talking about today?

We are going to talk about, a regrettably, I think something that affects everyone.

We're talking about stress.

So we've got, as usual, some good friends, from work spring and brought some, clinicians and some people to try to talk about the central nervous system, what stress actually is, and probably some hacks.

What causes you stress?

You're talking.

So you're tweaking your channel?

Well, I didn't build the chair.

So.

So we got Tyler Simmons from, DMB coaching going to be joining us.

He's a local chiropractor as well.

Yep.

So we'll talk to him about stress.

He's got nine and ten year olds, so he knows stress.

Yeah.

That's okay.

All right.

Let's take a break.

When we come back we're joined by Tyler Schwartz with DMB coaching talking all things stress here on a wellness Wednesday presented by Work Spring.

We'll be right back on the 419.

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Welcome back to the 419 It's Wellness Wednesday presented by Work Spring.

And we're talking about stress.

If you're feeling it you're not alone.

We're joined now by Tyler Schwartz with DMB coaching.

Tyler, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

We have to start.

I get everyone's nam wrong at the start of the show.

Am I saying that correct?

You nailed it.

Tyler I'm impressed.

Tyler.

Yeah, yeah.

Alright.

So let's just start.

I know we've had, a couple of folks.

We had Casey, on we've also had Doctor Michael Brown on from DMB coaching, but why don't you tell us if folks aren't familiar?

What is DMB coaching?

Yeah, DMB coaching is an organization that essentially, at its root, helps people, live life being fully alive.

The things that, hold people back and allow them to, live a life that i not, what they're looking for.

We do, life coaching.

We do corporate consulting we do events, keynotes, things like that.

And, today I am here to, talk about the, the dimension of health that we would say is more like relational or professional or physical.

And, oftentimes when DMB enter the space and they talk about, a health topic, that's that's my purview.

That's my that's my my jam.

Talks about how you sort o found your way to DMB coaching.

How did you how did you meet?

Yeah.

To Brown.

Yeah.

Doctor Michael Brown, it was like, through a friend of a friend.

They were at a networking meeting, and they said, this guy is just like you.

You got to like, you got to meet this guy.

You got to, you know, you guys are meant to be brothers from another mother.

You know, it's like, so we we sat down and talked and I remember asking him, like, why do you like, why do you want to meet?

Like, what do I have to potentially offer you?

And he was he was literally just like friendship.

Like, yeah, I don't know.

I just somebody said you were a cool dude and I want to be friends with you.

And from there, it's like, at this.

Point, has he been.

Yeah, it's very disappointing, very disappointing.

I have nothing to offer.

But we should be friends.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Yes.

But, but yeah, I was very impressed because oftentimes in like, business world, it's like, what does this person want from me?

Need from me?

What can what can be gained?

And genuinely, he was just like, now, like, I need nothing.

I just heard that you were cool, dude.

And I want to be friends.

And it's been that way for probably about the past ten years We've been friends.

Ten years.

How about that?

So serious question when you're talking with your wife about him, some story whether it's work related or not is it Mike.

Is it Michael or is it always.

Or.

Doctor Michael Brown.

Always was 100% DMV.

I would feel very uncomfortabl if I ever called him anything.

Especially not Mike.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's why I'm just curious.

I've got there's a few friends that I have that I always refer to as first and last name.

Yeah, yeah.

Kevin always calls me Mr.

Killam.

Really?

Yeah.

Based on my, demanding it, the.

Dude is the other one.

That's from that one night.

That's right.

Yeah.

You were there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Talk about.

Where are you from?

I'm from Waterville.

I'm from Waterville.

Grew up, went to engineering high school and, moved down to Columbus for a brief stint at the Ohio State University, where I got my undergrad and then moved down to Marietta Georgia for my doctorate work.

For my grad school, at a place legitimately called Life University.

Okay.

My dad's a chiropractor as well, and his undergra was at Hope College in Michigan.

And then he went to Life University.

So his education sounds totally messed up on a CV.

Yeah, just hoping in life.

But yeah, I went to, like, university and then came back and, and then my dad, and I and and another partner, we, together ow a chiropractic office locally.

That's where we're talking something specifically, today about stress.

I don't know if there is a season for stres that certainly isn't in my life.

It's full through 65.

Can you walk us through a little bit about what stress means to the body?

Yeah.

For sure, I appreciate that.

You said it best is like, stresses 365.

Yeah, like it seems like it's never ending.

And, the long and short of it is, is that we're not dying.

Like, because of these big traumatic events, at least most of us are not.

We're dying from 10,000 stressful, low grade, stressful days in a row from which we cannot recover.

So I feel, very strongl that if we can get control over, adding moments of recover into our days, into our weeks, into our months that can have a greater impact on our overall health than these huge, Herculean efforts to try to eliminate stress in order for us to be able to live longer, and improve our longevity.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Talk to me a little bit about what recovery means in this sense and and what a what a what a win looks like.

Yeah.

Recovery simply puts if we're talking about it through the lens of the central nervous system means that our nervous syste is broken down into two parts.

We have the part calle the sympathetic nervous system, and the complimentary part called the parasympathetic nervous system.

And simply put, it's the, fight or flight part of your nervous system and the rest and digest.

Okay.

And those two parts cannot be dominant at the same time.

So if you are stuck in stress mode, stuck in that fight or flight mode, it's been said that you cannot be in emergency mode and healing mode at the same time.

Okay.

So to answer your question, recover is shifting from fighter flight into rest and digest into that parasympathetic nervous system so that your body can actually take a moment, feel safe, and be allowed to recover.

And again, this might absolutely display maintenance, which is not an unusual occurrence on this show.

But can you walk us through hacks is the only way into my head to ask this.

And of course, this is an important nothing for that to feel inappropriate.

But what are some of the processes or, or a hack to get you into recovery mode?

And then again, how how do you know that recovery you've reached it.

How do you know What's that feeling.

Yeah, yeah.

When you know, you know, you just know, you know, but.

The best in business is nothing.

So, we have moved from, a society that is very physical.

We've traded physical stres for mental and emotional stress, and it's like it never turns off.

Yes.

It's like we're being, like, psychologically hunted but never physically chased.

And so being able to drop in to that moment where our, like, our inne nervous system feels safe enough to be able to relax.

I will say that if if there are listeners, viewers that are hoping to gain some, like, oh, yeah, that's a good takeaway.

If you sit at a desk all the time, for example, like you're basically sort o imitating being in almost like a fetal position, and your nervous system does not know the difference between, say, hypothetically, your ancestor was was hiding from a predator down in low grass was down in that fetal position.

That' a very nerve wracking position.

And now you've traded that for this.

Your nervous system still thinks I'm hiding from a predator, even though you may not be doing so.

So a good hack to use your word or a good strategy would be to straighten up, would be to open up your lungs, open up your chest cavity, to be abl to even get as big as possible, almost imitating like there's no predators around.

I can lounge back.

I can be at ease.

Like acting like that actually puts your nervous system in that place.

So posture is a really good one.

Yeah I would say another really good and easy way to do tha immediately is to take control of your breath.

Okay.

So your respiratory system is interesting because you can control your breathing, but it's also sort of automatic.

You don't think about it, so it's automatic, but you can also control it.

Most organs aren't like that.

Like you can't control your stomach to digest food.

It's like only automatic.

Sure can.

So you can you can, pierce into the veil of your nervous syste by getting into your breathing.

So, one way is called box breathing is what it's often, talked about.

So you inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds.

And you can do that on repeat.

And that has a calming effect.

There's also another breathing trick called If you, Oh, it' called a inspiratory like pause.

So if you go, if you breathe all the way in and then it's a little bit more, that, that physiological sigh allows your nervous syste to calm down for just a moment.

And that's just by expanding your lungs all the way.

I know we've asked this of other guests, like, I mean, is stress something that we can, like, avoid?

I mean, is i like other things that we can do to eliminate stress from our life entirely?

I think you know the answer to that.

And, aside from living life in a bubble, I do think that these bubbles I do think.

Yes, bubbles, I do feel.

Oh, yes.

You do.

Yet you can't avoid stress.

It's just a part of life.

And to a certain degree, stress is important.

Stress used to save our lives.

If we.

If we mistook a a rock for a bear.

Yeah, we survived because of it.

We didn't survive because we mistook a bear for a rock.

You know if we were overly stressed out, it actually was a protective mechanism.

But it's changed from a protective mechanis to the thing that is killing us.

This is like.

Mistaking doing a show with two, presumptive friends, five days a week.

That seem like a good idea?

Yeah.

And now I feel lik it's taking time off of my life.

Yeah, yeah.

Every day, it's just.

Like you.

Can't get these.

Messages by imagin us having to be with you.

Yeah.

Saving your lives.

Yeah.

That's right, that's exactly right.

Yeah.

I like the extra breath of air in your lungs.

I was going to ask if I. Feel like breathing in a box.

Yeah, well, yeah.

We're talking with Tyler Simmons with DMB coaching, here on a Wellness Wednesday presented by Work Spring.

I'm trying to get us back on the back on there.

That was a legitimate thing.

I said that.

And stress an how can you talk to your kids.

About grief.

About what they may be feeling?

And how do you know if it's some if it's just a normal, like nervousness or a little bit of panic and truly like being, living in a stressful.

That's a great question.

Yeah.

That is a great question.

I've heard it said that, you should prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.

Meaning that if we are to eliminate all stress from the pathway of our children, they're not going to be prepared for life.

Yeah, they're going to be scared all the time of literally everything.

But if we can prepare them, expose them to, micro doses of stress in a safe way.

I've talked to my wife and said that I like our kids to do things that are dangerous, but in a safe way.

Because I want them to feel what it feels like to be nervous.

But how do I talk to my own kids about stress?

I have told them that.

Do you ever have that feeling where your heart is racing and your palms get sweaty, and you just feel like you'r a little bit out of control now?

Yeah, I feel like that.

What?

How would you describe that?

And then I go, it sounds like, nervous, so I help them reframe that because I say, you know what else feels like your heart is racin and you're breathing shallowly and your palms are sweaty is excitement.

Yeah.

So if you can kind of help them just change the frame.

So every time they feel that physiological response, they're like, oh, I feel nervous to do this, this group projec and talk in front of my class.

It's like, maybe I'm just excited because I'm going to slay this report in front of my class.

And, and I try to raise boys.

You mentioned I do have two young boys and, what are their names?

Ellet.

Yeah.

And Holden.

Oh, cool.

And, and I'm amazed by them on a daily basis, but, but, yeah, they're, they're, ability to speak in front of their peers, has always amazed me.

And I do think that is primarily because of how we have reframe the stress response to be like, I might be excite and I'm going to lean into that.

What about kids and adults and so many people?

I do it to use, technology or the your phone as a pretend or thinking that that's relaxing.

Us.

Or that that's de-stressing us.

Yeah.

What is your opinion on that?

Is that something that can be used as sort of downtime or as relaxing time if you're just on your phone?

Yeah.

So it is a huge mistake to think that technology in that sense is relaxing.

It is stimulating the brain at a very subconscious level.

To the poin where if you can think of sleep as like the most ultimate form of relaxation, this is almost like the antithesis of that.

It's like anti sleep.

If if sleep is relaxing at the deepest par of your brain's with the deepest brain, waves like this is the exact opposite where it is creating the brain waves that are most mimicking like absolute alertness.

You've probably heard of dopamine mentioned before.

Sure.

Absolutely.

Probably by.

Yeah, we love it.

We love that.

Yeah.

Yeah yeah.

That's right.

Yeah.

Not not again.

Dopamine used to be a really great protective mechanism because when we ate something that was good we would get a dopamine burst.

If we eat sugar we would get a dopamine burst.

And again sugar was really important to, survival at one point in time.

But now that it is in abundance, it is not.

And dopamine is not necessarily a good signal of whether or not something is good for that.

We're sponsored by the little treats.

This is going to be so so think.

That's right.

So I rationally get like that.

You're saying that, you know technology is not a stress relief, but it is like it feels like it is.

Right.

I mean it feels like so it doesn't feel like my mind is racing when I'm doomscrolling Instagram or Facebook.

Doomscrolling.

Yeah.

You know, that's what it is.

It's I guess the act but lik I mean what, what are the things that we can do that provid that same immediate break from chaos, reality, stress, whatever it may be.

Yeah, that that give us that same dopamine rush for sure.

Without overstimulating the brain.

Yeah.

I think you you said it best i that it feels like relaxation.

But if we can delineate a difference between feeling and function or I apologize for the rhyme, but like how you feel and how you heal, there is a difference betwee those two in what stimulates one and what stimulates the other.

So I mentioned the breathing.

I mentioned the posture.

Most of the time today, since we are living in a sedentary society if you are serving as a conduit for all of the stress that you're exposed to, and if you're not releasing it, you are storing it.

And every cell of your bod is sort of like a bit of memory or Ram or a node that can be used to store that stress.

And sometimes people are like, oh, I feel like I store my stress right here.

And you might think that that's like not real, but it's actually literally what is happening.

Your body is storing the memory of that stress.

Right up, you know, in whatever tissue, it chooses.

So if you can work on your breathing, you can work on your posture, you can exercise and move your body.

You're no longer storing that stress.

You are releasing that stress.

And then finally being a being a chiropractor, I work on the nervous system.

I check people's nervous system to see their patterns of stress.

And when we deliver a simple chiropractic adjustment, we move them from the sympathetic nervous system into the parasympathetic nervous system that allows their body to heal better rather than just feel better.

And you can feel that in your patients, your clients bodies when when they come to you where their stress is stored.

I have I have instruments that allow me to identify where that stress is stored.

It's not so much like I can.

I can feel it.

Yeah.

But I do have instruments that that help me with that, to be able to deliver an appropriate adjustment.

But they can certainly feel i after, after they get adjusted.

Yeah.

April is stress awareness month, and so we appreciate you helping us kick this off.

Tyler, thanks for with DMB coaching.

When we come back we're joined by Lauren Calkins, a senior wellness consultant with Work Spring here.

And we'll talk about how stress shows up in the workplace and some of the things that we or you can do about it.

We'll be right back here on the 419.

To me, community.

Means connecting to others.

I'm Dani Miller, and welcome to the Point.

I mean, yes, yes, we are a community committed to education.

Discover new ideas, dive into exciting subjects, and engage with the world around you.

I would send them personally a t. Shirt crime doesn't Pa in the Old West and pass it on.

That's how we cleaned up the neighborhood.

Vision loss for people is not the end.

It's a story.

It's the next chapter.

The big E public media invites you to get out and play day.

Monday through Friday.

It's the 419 powered by W GTD with Matt Killam, Gretchen De Backer, I'm Kevin Mullen.

What can people expect on the show?

It's going to be an hour, a reminder of why this is a great place to live, work and play.

Where you come to watch, listen and learn.

Welcome back into the 419 it's a Wellness Wednesday presented by Work Spring.

We're joined now by senior wellness consultant Lauren Caulkins.

Lauren, thank you so much for welcome back to the show.

Looking back.

Yes, thanks for having me back.

Repeat, guests are always, I feel like it's a it' a good thing that you're willing to come back.

She knows how to deal with stressful.

Yeah.

We didn't provid enough stress for you to say or.

You're just so good at handling it.

You're like, yeah, we'll be fine.

Thanks, guys, and happy to be there.

Talk to us again.

Folks are familiar.

What is who is work spring.

Yeah.

Work spring.

We are based out of downtown Toledo now.

Our office is downtown, and we service, organizations all over the state of Ohio, southeast Michigan, on their air needs.

So we have our HR training support.

I'm on the wellness side of things, so, that's where I that's where my role is at work.

Spring.

But, we just help organizations to help their employees be their best.

So that's what we do.

And it is Stress awareness month.

So we are glad to have you on.

Tyler was o just before you and kind of TJ, you up on on a few things.

And I know that you wer in studio when he was talking.

Stress is unavoidable, right?

And work.

Spring is just a such a leader in this field.

So I am interested in talking about employers responsibility in this space.

If you don't mind adding on a little bit with Tyler said on the personal end, we described them probably inappropriately as hacks, but some of the methodology of wor dealing with inevitable stress.

What what can you do in this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I love what he shared to.

And just to kind of piggyback off of that as well, too, I think, and on the other side of things, just knowing your why, I think I mentioned that the last time I was here, just knowing your purpose.

Why do I get up in the morning, do what I do.

And I think that relates to this very well to so, the chronic stress the things that we can control, that's that's where we come in, right?

There are things that we can control.

Stress is going to be part of life.

We need it of course.

But the things that we can control, maybe we can hone in little bit more on those things.

So deciding, does this serve the purpose, of my why is this is this, actually benefiting me or what I am trying to accomplish?

Or if it doesn't, maybe it' time to get it off the schedule.

Maybe it's time to give it off the list.

Tyler talked about technology and it not it being, the antithesis of relaxation, sleep, restoration.

But it's also unavoidable in the workplace.

So how do we how do we handle that?

It is obviously it's 2026.

We're using our computers.

We're using email.

We're this is called.

The year okay.

So it's 2028 2020 a pigeon.

Yep.

That's right.

Yeah.

You know so we're all going to be immersed in that.

There's no turning back.

There's no looking back.

However, we do need to decide i how is this tech working for me.

And if it's working for me, great.

And if there are pieces to it that aren't working for me, or the humans or the adults, we get to decide, we don't need this.

We don't need this part.

So we're talking about doomscrolling.

It's a it's a choice, right?

But it was designed in the wa to have us to keep doing this.

So it's a it's a tough one.

So, you know, near and dear to my heart.

I have kids as well, you know, tween kids where it's like, you know, you start looking at the age of phones and can they have social media.

And it's like, I feel like I'm going to hold ou as long as I possibly can.

Yeah.

For them to not have acces because as they're 12 and ten.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

So they're right in there begging righ now, probably for them.

Right.

Well, you know, like the Apple Watch is okay.

Yeah.

And I think that's been a good.

Yeah.

You know.

Some time.

I'm buying time.

But I'm hoping that will buy time for like a long time.

But until they move out.

Until they move out.

All right.

When you're 18.

We'll see.

You can talk then.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'm trying to hold out as long as possible.

Because we know what the data says.

Right.

But, I'm an adul who also does this though, too, because, you know, we got our phones and it just how did this happen?

It feels like it happened overnight, right?

It does.

So I put limits on myself.

I have delete I don't have most social media.

And I've deleted, yeah, a lot of things.

And I've also put like, limitations on my phone too, so it'll turn off more.

And this might be a smart this might be an unfair question, but it does feel to me that w also are sort of compelled to, you know, the old idiom about tonguing the sword in your mouth, like, why do we also feel somewhat compelled to lean in to stress, like what is there?

And again if this is an unfair question, I would certainly display my ignorance but we do appear to also seek it to some degree.

Is that a fair statement or an accurate statement?

I think it can be.

For some people.

I think it's a stimulation.

Sure.

It's like, you were talking about dopamine earlier.

Like we don't want boredom.

And so we want novelty and we want ne and we want to be in the know.

And there's FOMO, right?

Fear of missing out.

So we want to be in the know and we want to just, you know, we want to live an exciting life too.

But, I don't want to necessarily live someone else's life.

I want to live my life and have my own exciting experiences, rather than seeing everyone else's exciting experiences.

So I try to reframe it that way, too.

And what are some signs in yourself or at work that you know that you've crossed into the unhealthy stress, where it's where it's not a motivator to, like, get you up and get you to work and do a good job.

But it's it's a, it's too much.

And it's a problem either for yourself or for your job.

Yeah.

I can start dressing like a fifth grade teacher.

Right?

Right.

Exactly.

Right.

Say, all the time I do.

I'm.

No, no, I'm not.

You know.

You're talking about me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a that's great distress.

Are there just.

Yeah, just.

Our show is sponsored by unsigned ends.

Yes.

Yeah.

It's nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They love it.

It's like the modern day Sesame Street.

Yeah.

That's right, that's right.

Or just fit your character other than Gretchen.

Right?

Right.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry for nailing it.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I can speak for myself in this for sure.

I think, your goals for the day have to be reasonable.

We've all heard this from time to time.

Like there aren't priorities.

There's the priority, you know, like, eat the frog.

Have you all heard of this phrase?

So it's like there's.

That happened accidentall last week.

Said lick the frog.

Oh, well, you know, I mean, you could do what you got.

I don't know, but that was an accident.

I've been saying it for years.

I thought that was the right phrase, but then it.

Caused me stress because I don't want to like a frog.

Now it's eat, I get it.

I want to do either.

Yeah, but if I have to do it, I want to get it over with.

Right?

So that the rest of my day isn't spent in dread and anticipation of like, oh, I don't want to do this.

And then I'll just avoid I'll do all the other things before I, you know, we're all guilty of that hundred percent flow.

So let's be honest about it.

But, I like to have my organized list of like, this is what must be done.

And then maybe it's the other top priorities.

If I get these three things done, I feel like a success for the day.

And I'll tell myself that at the beginning of the day.

So everything else is gravy, right?

But the momentum is cool because you start that and then you're like, well, now I can do this, then I can do this It's it's the getting started.

That's the hardest part.

That's for me.

But I think a lot of people are like that as well too.

So if my to do list is this long.

Yeah.

It's so daunting and overwhelming.

I don't even know where to start.

And you're frazzled.

You don't even start your day off, right, too.

So I need something to be impactful.

What, contribute to my why?

My purpose.

Everything goes back to that, too.

So if it's somethin that doesn't fulfill that need, maybe it's getting booted.

Maybe it's getting booted altogether.

So, you know, we don't get time back.

Time is finite, so let's make it count.

I heard again that there's thi is such a complex thing, right?

In a multitude of ways.

Some of it is that we're not necessarily that of one of the species or not as bald as we lay claim to.

But one of the simple things I did, somebody was telling me the other day that they made their bed, and they got up specifically so they could cross somethin off their list when they start.

The simple things to start and maybe end your day that that you can give us privy to or entry into the work o or at least worth the attempt.

Yeah I like that.

The making the bed.

I think for the longest time I was not a bed maker, but I like it because it does.

It's that it's like I just did something early that's already a great thing, and it visually makes me feel calmer.

And so, anything that I can do that is towards like whatever the goal is for the day, align my day with those things.

So like tim blocking things like that too, but also kicking off the thing that aren't towards that goal.

So I know I've said that again, but so it's boundaries setting a boundaries with others, but also setting boundaries with myself to award myself with things afte I've completed, you know, x, y, z, yes, or whatever.

But as far as, like practical, tips, the dings and bangs of, texts, phone calls, emails, all of those things.

If you're head down into a project, you want to focus and really be able to have that creativ thought and get something done, I don't want to hear dings and being it's distracting.

It's it's the squirrel off in the distance.

So everything's silenced for me and I might, might turn it back on once I'm done with that thing.

But I'm going to give myself that room to do that.

I, I didn't agree to 24 over seven things.

Things and everyone.

Yeah.

Trying to do.

Yes.

Right.

Yeah.

So I want to do some meaningful, work.

And I can't get that done if I'm sleeping.

To me, that's one piece.

I remember when I first got email on my phone.

Same.

It was my employer got me a phone that would have email on it.

And I remember saying at the time, for every reason why you want me to have this, I don't want to have it.

Sure.

And I like I wish I could get rid of email from the phone, get rid of social media, get rid of all of it.

It feels like a necessary evil in the workplace.

And it's and it takes it becomes all consuming.

Are there workshops that work spring offers?

Are there online kind of courses or things?

I'm a big professional development person, so I nerd out on those books and I like that.

But I generally go after like hard skill things, learn this new skill, learn this new software system or something.

But like in terms of managing stress, in terms of, you know, keeping technology in the right place, what, what, what's out there?

Yeah, I love it.

This is perfect.

We do all sorts of trainings with work spring, you know, on the HR front.

But specifically our one new trainin that we have is digital detox.

And I love it I feel like it's it's my baby.

It's it's so near and dear to my heart.

But basically at the premises making, you know, tech work for you.

I don't work for tech.

Tech needs to work for me.

So, talking practical tips on, you know, it's not shaming us about, you know, we're shaming one.

Another thing we talk about the doomscrolling sometimes everyone's addicted or this, but it's like, again, it was designed that way.

You know, we'r all just kind of using the tool.

But we do have a choice that we can back off and it can be difficult.

And I think acknowledging that it's difficult this is step one.

It's not easy.

If it was easy, we'd all be off of it.

Right?

Sure.

But in our digital detox session, we'll talk about how you can arrange your home screen so that the distractions that you don't want to be seeing are not there for you.

You know, we talked about things and being so notifications and unsubscribing from email newsletters and things that you don't want to be a part of anymore.

But it's like removing your credit card from shopping sites, right?

So instead of one click like ding, it's at my house in two days, maybe I want to sleep on it.

Do I really want this?

Do I want this object cluttering up my house?

I'd love to talk about minimalism and decluttering all day, every day.

I want I'l I'll save that for another time.

But I think doing things like that so that you keep the priorities in front of your face, I think is really important.

So we'll talk about those in the digital detox, discussion.

We've got t have you back for decluttering.

There is zero chance that you and I spend more time together, and you don't just instantly start judging every moment of life I feel I feel like I feel like that.

Anyone who just.

Sifts.

Through, yeah, I know have.

The related things to to scrolling on your phone, which we think is relaxing, but then it's all set up now.

I mean, it's just become worse and worse, but it's all set up now to get you to buy stuff.

All these people that are making videos and I do it all the time, and you go immediately go to this gets to the shop app.

You don't have to put in anything, right.

Five seconds late you and then you get this box.

Of junk, little.

House on the prairie.

You got it.

Right.

That' why that's what brought this up.

And that adds more.

Stress because it's like, why did I buy that?

I didn't need that.

Now I had to find a place for it now and then you feel bad having to throw it away or whatever.

It's just a compounding.

Your bins of problems.

Gretchen.

There's a lot of them.

Yeah, I've.

Moved one of them.

Yeah, I thought that I was part of a crime, and there was a body.

I was robbing a shoe store.

Yeah I did my.

I have a friend who, moved out to Los Angeles.

He owns a production company.

Or did and left that in teaches yoga full time.

And honestly, one of the very first things he did was declutter.

And it minimalize the stuff he had around, and it.

Does make you feel better.

I believe it.

And you think you need all that stuff?

I mean, there's the app.

Getting rid of objects is is is complex, but right.

There's you you feel guilty.

It was a gift.

It was.

I mean, it needed some day, but you don't need it, right.

And I think, to transition in, transition out, learn.

We always rely on work spring to talk to us a bit about the responsibility employers have to their employees in this way.

We talked about it on the personal level.

It is a lot to ask.

Can we talk about boundaries?

And this is such a needl to thread here, but what is a, what is the employer's responsibility in this space?

I think it's a great question.

It's an important question because it impacts your employees well-being, but also productivity.

Right.

So, you know, it's a win win when you can allow your employees to wor in the way that they work best.

So, you know, and it depends on your industry, right?

If you take phone calls, your customer service, you're going to get phone calls you that you don't get to turn of the dings and being some things.

Right.

So, but having a balance with it and being able to work in the way that you work bes so you can serve your company, serve your clients or whatever is in your industry, but in a way where you're not feeling so overwhelmed and just constantly because that's a recipe for burning out.

That's so, it's a win win for the organization if you can kind of allo employees to work in that way.

Yeah, but they work best.

So, open dialog always.

Lauren.

Thank you.

So much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

We got to have you back.

There's so many more topics for us to cover.

We appreciate you being here and joining us on a Wellness Wednesday presented by Work Spring.

We're take a break when we come back we'll be joine by Darren Moore here on the 419.

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Happy April Fool's Day and welcome back into the 419 No Fool.

And we've got another great guest on the show.

Yeah, this is my guest.

And in full candor, dear friend, who I've known for just a short amount of time actually, we've crossed paths.

That's Why he's still friends with you.

That's right, that's right.

You'll be the last day for something daring.

Other, more daring.

I ask you t come on for a couple of reasons.

One of which, I do think yo embody the spirit of the show.

This show is about our community, right?

In our region and, about others.

You've become a bit of a de facto, conversation starter about economic development.

But you are an entrepreneur, on a molecular level.

So if and the unusual macho mask, I'm going to start.

Not at the beginning of wh you are and where you're from.

But that's just a little bit about the conversation that I feel like that you've been championing about our region's economic growth and who we can b or who we should aspire to be.

Yeah.

So first off, thanks for having me on.

It's a blessing.

Thanks, you guys.

So the conversatio that we've started, and I think I started it because I, I was really, you know, watching in the printed media on the radio, TV.

And I started to see these indications that Toledo, the current thought leaders we have.

And when I mean Toledo I mean, like the core of Toledo, not the surrounding, you know, sort of production area.

The there's a conversation started around what are we going to be for the next 100 years?

And if you look at the history of Toledo you have the industrialization, you know, which created the families and the industries that last till today.

Then you have this interim period between what I would call the 1960 to 80s to about ten years ago.

And then you have the heavy investment in the downtown.

Really what I would say settin the table or I like to use the, putting the rocket ship on the launch pad, shout out to UT, and really, you know, now we're at a now we're at a stage where it says, okay, guys, what are we going to do for the next 100 years?

How do we get this rocket off the launch pad?

Where do we want to go directionally.

And, it really started, in December of 2025.

I started seeing editorials in these slot pieces.

And, you know, I, I mostly work outside this region, for my income and my business, but had been heavily involved for some time.

And so I said, okay, let's let's start to put into words what I think a lot of people are thinking.

And so from there, it starte with an editorial in The Blade and then a few podcasts and things like that.

And, and again, you just listen.

There's a, there's a bi excitement in Toledo right now.

And so I think part of i is just putting it into words.

I think we're past the, belly button gazing of what we could do better and yada yada.

We know who we are, but now it's about where do we go for the next 100 years.

What what makes you qualified to start these conversations or push this narrative?

Sure.

So I think two things make me uniquely qualified.

Number one, I listen, I'm surrounded by really smart people, and, Not this morning.

Well, well, it depends I know, but but, you know, so.

So I'm listening a lot.

Number one.

Number two, most of my life has been spent outside, this region, in emerging markets, in fast developing markets, both in the United States and around the world primarily Africa, Latin America.

So when I see these little nuggets of, hey, you start to see the energy, you start to see the bubble, you know, you want to you want to harness that and you want to identify it.

And then number three, I guess, is as Gretch and I, we worked on the Human Relations Commission together.

I have been involved in Toledo since 2018.

Deeply.

I've held a few positions within the business community and the social, social community as wel that allow me to have an inside look on things, I thin unique look from the inside out.

And, and I could, and I could say that we are really poised for the next 100 years.

And where.

We're going, who do you have to have on the same page to.

Make the vision happen?

Who who has to agree on what the vision is?

Who are the people or institutions or.

Yeah, or are parties that have to be on board.

You know, that's that's a tough one.

I mean, because that that is something we I believe we face uniquely here in Toledo.

That's that's a question that gets asked a lot.

How do we get everybody on the same page you know, how do we get, those, particular institutions or organizations that really, either control capital control, thought things like that or, you know, push thought onto the, the constituency.

I believe we have to just alig around, you know, a few things.

You know, young people want to start families and own houses and have, a bright economic future.

I think we also need to align around, this idea that, leadership needs to look at the next 50 years, not the next five months, you know, things like that.

Because, you know, leadership isn't there to, keep the trains running on time.

The leadership is there to support the people in the economy well before they know they need support.

And so I think I think, broadly speaking, if you if you take a step back and you look at all the publications, you're sort of seeing this already.

As to the permissions, there's no blockers, I would say in our economy.

Right.

I don't think anybody' going to get in the way per se.

There's a lot of ego.

Ego, obviously, and a lot of this stuff, there's legacy.

And so you need to acknowledge that those people, those institutions, those folks were part of what got us here in a good way.

And, you know, in your intent to move it forward.

Don't step on that.

Don't, you know, minimize that contribution, which we, you know, we tend to do.

So yeah, we're.

We're talking with Darren Moore here on the 419.

I'm curious your thoughts on what's something that we've really screwed up and what's something that, you know, needs to happen, right.

As, as you look at the steps, what's the what's the first big step that's going to have you go, all right, we got it.

So m my father in law says something.

He says, never make a mistak that you can't come back from.

Right.

I don't think we've done any of that.

We've done any of that.

We've we've not screwed up to a place where.

Oh, man, we're not going to be able to walk that back.

What I do think we've lost sight of perhaps is in the harshest of terms, capitalism, what it means to grow wealth and become better from a financial and stabilit standpoint, from your community.

I think that, you know, Toledo wins in the Toledo.

Toledo economy, is probably overrelian on non GDP creating activities.

We have to create GDP.

Essentially we have to export our products, our brain trust our people to the world, bring that income here and reinvest it.

I think that's one thing.

What I would like to see done better is we've we've invested a lot from a capital expenditure standpoint.

Right, Matt, you led you and the team lead the investment in the parks.

We've got a lot of downtown investment.

Our downtown is beautiful right now.

I would love to see, leadership in our donor community and our business community pivot to investments and operators, investment in people that generate income, which then, as we know, can be reinvested into our capital, into our infrastructure to to keep it pretty.

You have a lot of beautiful infrastructure, but we have to pay for it in the long run.

I'm also curious, there is one thing that can certainly be a detriment to not just, sieged, regions, institutions.

There's complacency.

Why does this, why does this matter?

And what does it matter to you personally?

You have a I want to talk a little bit now about your family.

You're not from here.

You came here.

You moved back here with your beautiful wife and family.

Why does this matter?

I think I think Toledo represents, the best that America has to offer.

And I think that it matters to m because at some point in life, you want to find somewhere where you put roots down.

But really, me personally, I've been making economies in places better around the world for going on two and a half decades, right?

First in the military than the private sector.

So for me, I take it very personal, because, number one, it's the right thing to do.

It's your own backyard.

Number two the people are beautiful people.

They're smart, they're committed.

People say you're going to have no loyal, more loyal person than in Toledo.

And in fact, you know, and I listen to, parents water parents.

The most painful story I hea is when they're newly graduated or early career son or daughter moves away to for an opportunity.

And then and then I take it personal, because I think the things that we need to do aren't as daunting is sometime it's made out to be an in in an economy, in a place like ours you can actually get them done.

Yeah.

You know, there's there's a lot of places in the United States and around the world where if you wanted to get something done, it's very difficult.

That's right.

But here, you know, 1 or 2 phone calls away, you're going to be at the right person.

That that fits.

Well stated.

Absolutely.

I noticed throughout this interview you've used the word leaders, and you have not once sort of directly acknowledged government officials and political leaders.

Is there, a separation there?

Is there a responsibility there, or is there a reason why you're you're more broadly talking about leaders in a in a broader sense?

Well, I think I look I think no, no, no area can be attributed to one woman or one man, or one position or not.

I think, again, you know I've worked through with the HRC in the most underserved communities in our area, with the highest potential and highest upside.

And at the same time, I'm also in those good old boy circles that happen to be at those country clubs and front row of the Solheim and so on and so forth.

So I think for all socioeconomic, all, you know, sort of demographics within our econom and our community leaderships, I mean, leadership means different things, spiritual leaders included, in the church, I don't think, I mean, look, there's a there' a handful of political leaders, not not the mayor, nobody like that.

But there are people that are problematic to some degree.

Challenges with Columbus and those relationships that are critical that you have to maintain, have been degraded over time.

But, I don't think there's, you know, one person that's at fault or one particular group that's at fault.

I would love to see, more empowering of the economic development department at the city.

Brandon has, I mean, tremendous individual, huge potential, and he's getting a lot done.

I would love to se some more resources put there.

But, overall, I think we're on the right track, and I don't.

And it's hard for m to hold one person accountable.

When you tal about the potential of the city or the region, what's the what's the thing?

What's the one thing?

If you could pick one that you would do o tried to get incorporated first?

Absolutely.

So so I think the first thing I would like to do is we have this, what I would say, you say colloquially in the industry, like old line manufacturing, sort of.

We're manufacturing for for an economy in a product set that is not necessarily yesteryear, but it's growing at maybe 3 to 5% per year, right.

But now we have these new sectors that are growing very fast.

So think of like unmanned systems, aerospace, advanced compute, including AI in the data centers.

We have capability right here in our economy to not just hard pivo but maybe soft pivot into these new exciting sectors.

It's going to do a number of things.

It's going to increas the revenue of these companies because they're tapping on sectors that are high growth versus not stagnant, but sort of, if anybody's driven a Chinese car, but like it's going to be tough for us.

So we have to catch up fast.

But it's also going to be it's going to increase income for those, those households which will help the downtown.

We need to increase the, household income.

But third, I think most important, it's going to give a reason for young people to stay.

Yeah.

You know, you hear this over and over the brain drain situation, right?

In the shrinking population.

We need to get into things that are attractive and exciting.

Yeah.

And an attractive and exciting on a national level.

An international level where people say, man, there's people in Toledo or on to something.

This is a new Toledo.

Yeah, we're talking i more here on the 419 powered by.

It's now time for.

Gretchen's wacky quiz.

I'm gonna ask you for rapid fire, okay?

Just get used to it, all right?

I'm gonna ask you for rapid fire questions.

Can I ask you?

Gretchen' asking for your favorite thing in or about Toledo.

And then you and Matt will describe Toledo in exactly nine words.

Question number one.

What's the worst job you've ever had?

The worst show of bagging a giant eagle.

All right.

Yeah, yeah.

If you could be any flavor of ice cream, which flavor would you be?

Vanilla.

Because I add any flavor.

I'm okay.

No, it's not okay.

Well.

We're the last two books that you read.

Oh, gosh.

The The Secret History of the world.

And then, on Grand strategy.

Yeah.

Okay.

We've been talking about stress, all day.

So this is a fitting question to wrap up my four, what do you do to unwind after a hard day?

Call Matt, call Matt.

And we will come together.

Yeah, I know it's better about yourself.

Do you want to feel better about yourself?

Come back home.

Yeah, yeah, I'll try that.

What's your number one most favorite thing, or what you consider to be the best thing about the city of Toledo or the region?

The people, for sure.

Yeah.

I'd have to say Metroparks.

Great.

Yeah.

All right.

Sorry.

Metroparks.

That was you and me.

Better.

Best backyard.

That's right.

All right, so the people I'm going to give you a one right off the rip.

Now we've got eight more.

Describe the city or region in eight words.

Potential.

Potential.

Love it.

Good a good start people.

Potential.

Keep going.

Weather, weather.

Yep.

All four seasons.

Well.

Thank you.

Water, water.

Yes.

Okay.

We're halfway home.

Low cost of living.

That's one word.

Cost of living.

I' gonna give you two for that one.

I've got three left.

Let's see your community for some writing community down for you.

I think community solid.

Yeah, absolutely.

And the networking portion of yo mentioned something important.

One of the best things about being in the middle, medium, small town is your two phone calls away, usually away from help or support.

Yes, we get that.

And what's your beautiful wife's name?

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

That's your night.

Thank you.

Yeah, you got it.

Awesome.

Darren Moore, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Appreciate to be on the program.

We come back, we will wrap up this Wellness Wednesday edition of the 419 every day when you laugh with us you learned with us a neighbor.

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Welcome back int the 419 as we wrap up a Wellness Wednesday edition of the 419 presented by Work Spring.

It's.

You come into a day where we're going to talk about stress.

And I admittedly ha a bit of fear that it was like, all right, I'm going to end up like high anxiety and not enjoying it.

But it was, a wonderful conversation.

Couple of great people, Tyler Swan's, with Debbie Coach and Lauren Caulkins, with work spring, a senior wellnes consultant there at work spring and then I had never met Darren before.

I didn't know.

That.

I know I've seen him or we've been in rooms together, but I legitimately don't know anything about him.

And so this was, an enjoyable conversation.

Yeah, absolutely.

He's, he cares abou this for all the right reasons.

Again, you didn't hear any accusatory language in there.

We will have to figure this out, together.

Right.

There's not a silver bullet either.

And I think it's also really vulnerable to go out and say, hey, I think we should think about this differently because you're immediately going to get naysayers or people throwing whatever.

And the reality is that he's not from here.

He and Yasmeen moved back here, and they want to stay here, and make it the best plac for their kids to stay and work.

I think it's a it's not a unique story or a lament to hear people say, yeah, my, my, I have a young graduate and they are moving right some other place and that it' not on their radar to stay here.

I've always said I simultaneously want to do everything I can to make sure that any opportunity my kids want to have, they can find here in Toledo.

But I also want to create a system where they can go anywhere they want to find it, right?

So I simultaneously want them to be able to go.

But what can I do to make sure that all those opportunities exist here?

In northwest Ohio?

Darren, is an entrepreneur, but it sounds like, as he was walking out, his daughter.

Yes.

Is also an entrepreneur.

Yes.

She has a you can go to Instagram.

She has, she makes hair clips so you can go to game day clips on Instagram and so forth.

Yes, yes.

Right.

Yeah.

I've got I have to get that for my daughter.

Yeah.

Yeah for sure.

Yeah.

And for our.

For our audience.

This is, Rita's niece.

So they're, they're, they're Rita monsters.

So they they come by naturally.

Last Friday's surprise guest.

Yes.

So I love it all comes back to get right.

All right.

That's right.

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