We Are For Good Podcast: "Gather At The Well – Re-Entry Without the Burnout: Return from Rest with Rhythm, Not Rush"

Guest: Lindsey Fuller
Date: November 19, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode, hosted by Lindsey Fuller in collaboration with We Are For Good, delves into the art of designing intentional re-entry rituals after time away from work—whether from a vacation, sabbatical, or even a weekend. With a focus on recovery as an ongoing process and not a calendar event, Lindsey shares personal experiences, practical re-entry strategies, and core mindset shifts to help nonprofit professionals and changemakers avoid burnout, maintain their wellbeing, and genuinely integrate work and life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding the "Sunday Scaries" and Redesigning Re-entry

• Lindsey opens with the concept of the Sunday Scaries—that familiar sense of dread as work looms after time off.
  • [01:00] "When I say the Sunday Scaries, I'm talking about how that low hum of dread hits you before Monday. The body's way of saying, I'm not ready to rush. It's not a flow, it's feedback."
• She encourages listeners to treat these feelings as data from the nervous system, prompting us to design a re-entry that honors rest rather than undoing it.

2. Recovery as a Design Principle

• The episode builds on a previous theme: "Recovery as a design principle."
  • Remembering the “three R’s” introduced earlier—Rest, Restoration, and Right-sizing the mental load.
• Lindsey’s intention is to shift from “thought leadership” to “change leadership”—making rest practical and systemic.

3. Concrete Example of Intentional Re-entry

• Lindsey shares her personal re-entry routine after an eight-week micro sabbatical, motivating listeners to extract what fits for their own context:

  • Partial Hours: "I only worked partial hours... I want to actually have a couple of part time days, like put more PTO in the first week back. Imagine how luxurious, right?" [07:30]
  • Somatic Support: Spa treatments, hot yoga, therapy–deliberately investing wellness funds.
  • Strategic Meetings: Only reconnected with four key coworkers (interim ED, board president, her coach, and her executive assistant).
    • [11:45] “I only took strategic meetings. I did not jump back into every meeting. And no, we don’t have meetings that could be emails at the teaching well.”
  • Relational Realm: Prioritized meaningful client work and family, especially being present for her child’s preschool routine.

• Design, Not Indulgence: Lindsey insists her process wasn’t self-indulgent but intentionally designed (repeated mantra: “We are returning, not rushing”).

4. Five Core Practices for Re-Entry Rituals

Lindsey crystallizes the re-entry approach into five actionable practices for the first weeks back:

1. Self Sync

• Schedule a “meeting with yourself” to process and reflect before engaging others.
  • "Just like you meet with your team. You need to capture what your body, your heart and mind learned while away." [18:08]

2. Phased Hours

• Return gradually, avoiding a packed schedule. Make sure sustainable rhythms are visible on your calendar.

3. Realign with Key People

• Reconnect only with your strategic mirrors and truth-tellers, not everyone.

4. Structural Pivots from Reflection

• Translate new insights into small, bold changes for your workflow and boundaries.

5. Protect New Priorities

• Hold firm to boundaries that preserve your growth and what you regained during rest.

• Notable Lindsey quote on boundary-setting:

  • “No, and not yet. And yes, but are all important parts of your communication and signs of leadership maturity.” [22:15]

5. Rest in Motion & Microdosing Wellness

• Lindsey broadens the idea of rest:
  • “I don’t have to be completely out of work to seek rest or recovery. I can rest in motion. I can be safe in motion.” [25:00]
• She offers a somatic micro-practice for listeners:
  • Exercise: Inhale for a four-count, exhale for six, whispering: “We are returning, not rushing. I can move and still be safe.” [27:20]
• Encourages listeners to microdose wellness—embedding short self-care and recovery practices into the workday.

6. Work-Life Integration (not just Balance)

• Argues for abandoning rigid work/life balance in favor of work-life integration, where professional and personal realms support one another:
  • “Work life integration isn’t perfection. It’s permission. Permission to blend, to breathe and to design a rhythm that honors both your mission and your humanity.” [35:10]
  • Gives practical examples: picking up children from school during the workday, choosing restorative over productive activities, and creating meaningful transitions.

7. Revisiting the Three R’s of Recovery

• Rest during re-entry can mean whitespace between meetings, protected downtime, or silent moments.

• Restoration comes through bodywork, therapy, walking, or enjoyable practices during work hours.

• Right-sizing the mental load may involve delegating, closing “mental tabs”, or ending the day on time.

• Lindsey’s repeated wisdom:

  • “This isn’t about perfection. It’s about re-patterning. Patterning safety, rhythm, and agency back into your days.” [43:02]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [04:15] On redesigning re-entry: “Because here’s the truth. Re-entry isn’t a date on your calendar. It’s a designed process.”
• [16:58] On self and strategic meetings: “Each choice told my nervous system, we are returning, not rushing. Say that with me. We are returning, not rushing.”
• [21:45] On boundary protection: “Be firm in the boundaries that preserve your growth. No, and not yet. And yes, but are all important parts of your communication and signs of leadership maturity.”
• [46:20] On work-life integration: “Work-life integration is the active process of balancing multiple parts of our identities... It’s about designing flexibility and flow that honor the whole ecosystem of our lives.”
• [51:02] On sustaining recovery: “Recovery isn’t a privilege, it’s a practice, one rooted in critical hope, the belief that rest and restoration aren’t escapes from work... The blueprints for doing it better.”
• [54:33] On aligned returns: “As you return, remember you’re not just coming back, you’re coming back in alignment with what keeps you whole.”

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 00:03 | Introducing the episode theme; understanding the "Sunday Scaries" | | 07:30 | Lindsey’s personal re-entry ritual after sabbatical | | 18:08 | Five key elements of re-entry rituals explained | | 25:00 | Rest in motion: re-patterning away from binary rest | | 27:20 | Guided somatic micro-practice | | 35:10 | Work-life integration vs. work-life balance | | 43:02 | Revisiting the "Three R’s of Recovery" during re-entry | | 51:02 | Redefining recovery as a sustainable practice, not a privilege | | 54:33 | Final reflections: returning in alignment, not just returning |

Practical Takeaways & Homework

• Try a Self Sync: Schedule time to check in with yourself before re-immersing in others’ priorities.
• Identify a Non-Negotiable: Choose one practice (like family dinner, device-free lunch) that anchors your re-entry or ending of day.
• Microdose Wellness: Embed minor recovery practices throughout your day.
• Affirmations Offered:
  • “I return with rhythm, not rush.”
  • “Rest doesn’t end when work begins.”

Final Thoughts

Lindsey Fuller’s approach reframes re-entry as a conscious act—transforming the dreaded post-rest rush into a sustainable, compassionate, and effective return. By designing meaningful rituals and prioritizing presence over perfection, leaders and teams in the nonprofit sector can model the kind of work culture that sustains both impact and individual wholeness.

For more resources and downloadable checklists, visit theteachingwell.org, and tune into the next episode for conversations around knowing when it’s time to leave and rest for real.