SUNDAY SEEDS OF THOUGHT: Dear Leader... The People You Lead Are Watching How You Rest

Dr. Carmela Maxell: Welcome to Sunday Seeds of Thought with Rooted in Rising. I'm Dr. Carmela Maxwell, and this is where every week we plant one thought to carry with us into the week ahead. Today's seed is called Dear Leader. The people you lead are watching how you rest. Before I begin, I need to confess something. This isn't really a lesson. It's a confession before it's a lesson. This episode is a love letter. First and foremost, it's a love letter to myself. It's also for every leader. Every parent, every entrepreneur, every clinician, every educator, every executive. Every high achiever. And every person who has ever mistaken exhaustion for purpose. Because for most of my life I believed something that I'm slowly trying to unlearn. I believed that being tired meant I was successful. If I was exhausted, I must have been working hard enough. If my calendar was overflowing, I must have been important. If I answered emails at ten thirty at night, worked through lunch, skipped vacations, or told myself I'll rest after this next project. Then somehow I had earned the right to call myself successful. I wore exhaustion like a badge of honor. No one asked me to. No one required it. Somewhere along the way I simply convinced myself that rest had to be earned. And maybe you've done the same. I'll be honest. There was a season of my life where I would answer emails from bed. I'd hear the notification. I'd tell myself it would only take a minute. Well, one email became three. Three became ten. Before I knew it, I wasn't resting. I was working. What I didn't realize at the time was that I wasn't just responding to emails. I was teaching everyone around me what I believed leadership looked like. I was teaching my team that being constantly available was normal, that disconnecting wasn't safe. That leadership meant always being on. I never said those words out loud. I didn't have to. People learn far more from what we model than what we preach. And that's what this episode is really about. Not productivity, not hustle, not work ethic. It's about permission. Because the people you lead are watching how you rest. Dear leader, the people you lead are watching you. Not because they're judging you, because they're learning from you. We spend so much time thinking they're watching our presentations, our meetings, our leadership style, our strategy. But that's not what people remember. They remember your habits. They notice when you answer emails late into the evening. They notice when you apologize for taking vacation. They notice when you skip lunch. They notice when you proudly tell everyone how little sleep you've had. They notice when you tell everyone else to take care of themselves while quietly forgetting to take care of yourself. And here's the uncomfortable truth I've had to face. The people around me don't just hear what I say. They imitate what I normalize. Somewhere along the way, many of us began believing that burnout was simply the price of ambition. That if we were constantly tired, we must be doing something right. But exhaustion is not a resume. It's not a leadership competency. It's not proof that you care more than anyone else. Sometimes It's simply proof that you've forgotten you're human. And that realization has been difficult for me because I genuinely love my work. I love serving. I love teaching. I love creating. I love writing. I love helping people. But I finally had to ask myself a question that made me f feel really uncomfortable. If I collapse trying to save everyone else, who exactly have I served? Organizations spend thousands of dollars writing mission statements, core values, vision statements, employee handbooks. But culture culture isn't written, it's observed. If a leader says family comes first, but answers emails every night, guess which message people believe? If a leader says, take care of yourself, But never takes PTO, guess what everyone else learns? Culture isn't built by speeches, it's built by permission. I'm redefining success not because I've mastered it, because I'm practicing it. Success isn't answering every message immediately. Success isn't sacrificing my health for applause. Success isn't making myself available every hour of every day. Success is building a life my children would actually want to imitate. Success is creating a workplace where people don't feel guilty for being human. Success is understanding I don't have to burn myself out to prove that I care. And maybe just maybe the strongest leaders aren't the ones who never stop. They're the ones who show everyone else it's okay to pause. So, dear leader, I hope you rest this week. Not because you've earned it, because you're human. I hope you take your lunch. I hope you leave work on time. I hope you spend an evening without checking your email. I hope you laugh with people who remind you who you are outside of your title. Because someone is watching. Not so they can become harder workers, but so they can become healthier human beings. The people you lead don't simply hear your words. They study your habits. So give them permission. Permission to breathe. Permission to disconnect. Permission to recover. Permission to be fully human. Because that may be the greatest act of leadership you'll ever demonstrate. Because leadership isn't just about performance. It's about modeling a sustainable way of life. Thank you for joining me for another Sunday Seeds of Thought. If today's reflection resonated with you, I hope you'll share it with a leader, a parent, a mentor, or someone who's been carrying more than they were ever meant to carry. You never know who needs permission to rest. If you're enjoying Rooted in Rising, I'd love for you to follow the podcast wherever you listen. New episodes are released every Tuesday with Sunday seeds each week to help you begin with intention and midnight reflections exploring the quieter parts of being human. And if you enjoy stories that explore grief, resilience, identity, and what it means to remain human in impossible circumstances. My debut novel, Bereavement, is now available on Amazon in Paperback, Kindle, and Spotify audiobook. Until next Sunday, stay rooted, keep rising.