If you're returning from break and feeling like your energy is low, but the demands are already high, then this episode is for you.

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Bright Morning podcast. I'm your host, Elena Aguilar.

And in each episode, you will learn how to lead conversations that build connection

and spark change. All right, today we are talking about something that is very real for many

of us at this time of year. What to do when your tank feels empty, but the needs around you

haven't paused? When the expectations are high, but your internal reserves are low. So let's get

into it. January is often framed as a time for fresh starts, and sometimes it is.

But for a lot of coaches and leaders that I've worked with, January feels like a wall.

It's cold. It's dark. The sparkle of the holidays has faded and people are tired.

You may be facing pressure from district goals or testing calendars and you might also be carrying your own exhaustion that's hard to name, but very present.

So I want to take you back to a time when I was in that place.

It was a January morning in Oakland, California, and I had just returned from winter break, and I was

standing by the front door of my school. I was greeting students and staff as they came in,

and a teacher walked past me and mumbled, let's just get this over with.

And I thought, yeah, let's get this over with.

I did not feel ready.

I did not feel like I had anything left to give.

And so I went into my office and I sat down and pulled out my journal. And I wrote

myself a note. You are here. You are enough. You don't have to have all the answers.

Just start with love. I reread that note before every meeting that

week. Kept it in my pocket and it became a tiny anchor in a turbulent sea. And what I learned that week was this.

When your energy is low, your job isn't to push harder.

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