Rest as a leadership strategy
Reclaim your peace and set the foundation for a successful school year
August 4, 2025
The following article was written by Tovi C. Scruggs.
The start of a new school year is electric — fresh notebooks, new faces, big plans. But too often, that energy is short-lived because we enter the year already tired. Educators are carrying the weight of systemic demands, political turbulence, and personal commitments, yet we normalize exhaustion as if it’s a badge of honor.
It’s not. It’s a warning sign.
This year, I invite you to consider that rest isn’t a luxury or an afterthought — it’s a sacred, strategic necessity for sustainable leadership and effective teaching. That’s why I created this acronym for R.E.S.T: Restoratively Embracing Self Today — to shift rest from a “when I have time” activity into a daily leadership practice.
As educators, our rest is key. This is why: Education is sacred work. Families entrust us with their most precious treasures: their children. To serve with clarity, creativity, and compassion, we need to be whole. But systemic grind culture — deeply rooted in capitalism and oppression — conditions us to see our worth only in constant productivity and busyness.
This is not accidental. A system that keeps educators overstretched leaves no room for innovation, courage, or the deep connection required to transform schools. And in times of crisis — whether policy threats, community grief, or school incidents — rest is not a “pause from the fight.” It is what fuels our capacity to think clearly, strategize wisely, and act courageously.
The purpose of R.E.S.T is to transform the strategy of resting into leadership practice: It’s about BE-ing not just DO-ing. The BE-ing is a mindset, a belief system, a consciousness that serves as the foundation of our value and self-worth that results in the doing of strategic rest.
Educators who embrace R.E.S.T recognize rest as a prerequisite to resilience, equity, innovative teaching, and genuine belonging in classrooms and schools. It invites a shift from merely “doing” our work to embodying well‑BE‑ing in every moment, rooted in self-awareness, meditation, and somatic presence.
Why R.E.S.T needs to be core for us as school leaders
Resistance through rest: Choosing rest is a political and spiritual act. In a system bent on exhaustion, our pausing and restoring becomes a radical reclaiming of self and space, allowing us to better walk and flow in our sacred calling.
Mindful leadership BE‑ing: Leadership that leads from self‑awareness, equity, and resilience starts with being anchored in rest. When educators prioritize their own restoration, everything they teach and lead is rooted in integrity and presence.
Sustainability as strategy: Deep rest reduces burnout, heightens awareness, nurtures emotional intelligence, and makes inclusive, compassionate leadership possible over the long term. Sustainability leads to embodiment. Interestingly, this is also how equity and belonging get cultivated in our BE-ingness, and eventually in our schools and systems, because awareness, emotional intelligence, and compassion are the key tenets of equity and belonging. When we R.E.S.T, we are not too tired to nurture those qualities in ourselves and others.
We do not need to lead our students and teams into an exhausted future. We can model a rested future — one built on clarity, creativity, and connection.
What R.E.S.T looks like in practice
Rest is not just napping — though naps are welcomed and encouraged. It’s about micro-moments of peace and self-R.E.S.T’oration woven into each day. It’s about reclaiming your body, mind, and spirit from systems that profit from your depletion.
Some days, R.E.S.T might mean:
Meditation before you start your day, maybe before each meeting, or as you prepare for sleep. Meditation does not have to be lengthy, even two to three minutes of consciously connecting to your breath can be supportive.
Journaling to process when you are emotionally charged, release mental clutter, and capture highlights amidst challenges so you can witness and capture your own successes.
Quiet nothingness — staring out the window with a warm mug, no agenda … allowing yourself spaciousness to just BE still and quiet for a moment. This is different from meditation.
Digital boundaries — turning off screens an hour before bed, setting a timer for email time and/or scrolling, not being on tech for work on the weekends.
Unscheduled weekends where you resist the urge to fill every minute and/or overschedule yourself.
Personally, I schedule R.E.S.T the way I would any meeting: If my calendar shows a “dark purple” block, that’s sacred R.E.S.T’oration time — and my commitment to myself is a minimum of four dark-purple blocks each week.
So many say, “I’ll rest when things calm down.” But as educators, we know: Things rarely calm down. We must learn to rest in the midst of the chaos. Resting during hard times is not avoiding the fight — it’s fueling for it. I like to say “Pace over pressure” as a reminder to keep me balanced and not pressurize myself into a machine-like producer that forgets to humanize myself. This means:
Slowing down meetings and agendas — “Delete, delete, delete!” This phrase reminds me that less is more and to consciously create spaciousness. Where can we simplify? Next time you do create some space for you or your team, I hope you giggle a freeing, “Delete, delete, delete!” to yourself!
Ending the workday at a reasonable time — and modeling it for your team and staff. The work never goes away, so best to do it rested instead of tired.
Clarifying communication boundaries — for example, “I may email after 5 p.m., but I don’t expect a reply until the next workday.”
Owning your rest is an act of courage. Our culture will not give you permission to R.E.S.T — you must claim it. It’s also a spiritual posture: seeing yourself as sacred, treating your leadership as a calling, and protecting the vessel (you and your body!) that serves your students and community. Again, the work will always be there. You can do it tired, or you can do it rested. You get to choose.
Three ways to adjust for a more rested school year
1. Name your baseline — Identify one daily rest practice you will protect at all costs (e.g., morning meditation, tech-free lunch, no email after 6 p.m.).
2. Audit & delete — Look at your calendar for the next two weeks (personal and professional). What can be moved, delegated, or dropped entirely? What ONE day on a weekend each month can you protect with no appointments?
3. Build collective rest — Invite your team or colleagues into conversations about rest so that it becomes a topic seen as valuable to explore together. Rest is contagious — when leaders model it, cultures shift. And when culture shifts, our system shifts. A more rested culture will result in a more rested system.
2. Audit & delete — Look at your calendar for the next two weeks (personal and professional). What can be moved, delegated, or dropped entirely? What ONE day on a weekend each month can you protect with no appointments?
3. Build collective rest — Invite your team or colleagues into conversations about rest so that it becomes a topic seen as valuable to explore together. Rest is contagious — when leaders model it, cultures shift. And when culture shifts, our system shifts. A more rested culture will result in a more rested system.
A final note
We do not need to lead our students and teams into an exhausted future. We can model a rested future — one built on clarity, creativity, and connection. Rest will not take away the challenges we face, but it will give us increased capacity to meet them with skill and spirit intact. It is our divine right, our strategic advantage, and our responsibility. As you step into this school year, I invite you to Restoratively Embrace Self Today — for your students, for your sacred calling, and for the future of education.
Tovi C. Scruggs is a former principal and leadership coach who cultivates conscious, connected, and courageous leaders worldwide.