S3E4: Gather At The Well: Re-Entry Without the Burnout: Return from Rest with Rhythm, Not Rush (Lindsey Fuller)
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Overview
We know that gut-punch feeling when your time off ends and the peace you just earned starts draining away before Monday even hits. We've all been there.
Here’s the thing: Returning to work shouldn't feel like a rush that undoes your rest.
This week Lindsey is pulling back the curtain on how she makes rest non-negotiable, even after a big pause like an eight-week micro sabbatical. She's not just sharing ideas; she’s giving you the blueprint to design a mindful reentry, a process that is actually a nourishing ritual. Listen as she grounds her approach in the theme of Recovery as a Design Principle, sharing concrete examples from her own eight-week micro sabbatical to show you how to truly honor your rest instead of undoing it.
It’s time to move past rigid "work-life balance" and embrace Work-Life Integration, designing flow that honors your mission and your humanity, choosing rhythm over rush.
Key Takeaways
Self-Sync: Learn to meet with yourself to capture what your body, heart, and mind learned while away, before your calendar fills with other people's priorities.
Phased Hours: Resist the urge to dive back into a packed schedule by starting with partial days or protected work time to rebuild your capacity.
Realign with Key Players: Focus your energy by only meeting with strategic mirrors and truth-tellers in your leadership ecosystem, instead of everyone who wants to meet with you.
Leverage Reflection into Structural Pivots: Codify your new clarity by making small, bold changes to stop what drains you, sustain what centers you, and start what aligns
Protect New Priorities: Be firm in the boundaries that preserve your growth using "no," "not yet," and "yes, but"—signs of leadership maturity.
Repattern Safety: Learn how to microdose wellness and rest in motion so that you don't have to be completely out of work to seek rest.
Affirmations
I return with rhythm, not rush.
Rest doesn't end when work begins.
📝 Choose Your Own Adventure
Block a Self-Sync: Look ahead in your calendar and find a time—perhaps the first hour back after a three-day weekend or holiday—to meet with yourself and reflect on how you want to relate to the work.
Identify One Non-Negotiable: Name one commitment that keeps your family or personal flow steady (like dinner together or a device-free lunch) and journal for five minutes on how to bring this work-life integration forward.
Today’s Speaker
Lindsey Fuller, Executive Director of The Teaching Well
Jill E. Thomas, Lead Facilitator of The Teaching Well
“Presence over perfectionism is critical.”
Episode Transcript
Download Full Episode Transcript Here
Episode Highlights
Lindsey’s Personal Approach to Returning After a Break (01:40)
Five Key Re-Entry Rituals for Sustainable Return (06:28)
Grounding Yourself: Jill’s 54321 Somatic Practice (10:08)
Using the Parasympathetic System to Rest in Motion (12:22)
Shifting from Work-Life Balance to Work-Life Integration (16:00)
Actionable Homework for Designing Your Re-Entry (21:46)
Reflective Journaling and Affirmations for Integration (22:07)
Powerful Quotes
"Each choice tells your nervous system, we are returning, not rushing." - Lindsey Fuller
“Protect the new priorities that preserve your growth." - Lindsey Fuller
"Reentry is about realignment, not just returning." - Lindsey Fuller
"Each choice tells your nervous system, we are returning, not rushing." - Lindsey Fuller
"Longevity in the work is possible when you design and honor sustainability systems" - Lindsey Fuller
“Recovery as a design principle is about realignment." - Lindsey Fuller
"Design a rhythm that honors both your mission and your humanity." - Lindsey Fuller
"Work-life integration isn't perfection, it's permission.." - Lindsey Fuller
"Anchor your days with practices that sustain calm." - Lindsey Fuller
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