Not a normal list. A long one. Everything I could think of that still needed handling before I stepped away went on it. Emails I had not gotten to. Loose ends from the week. And then I would push myself to get through every line of it.

Working later than I meant to, on my last working day before vacation started. Staying at my desk past the point I had already told myself I would leave. Trying to check every box, one more, one more, until I got through a good chunk of the list.

And even on the times I finished the whole list, walking out that door never felt the way I thought it would. I expected relief. What I actually felt was tired in a way rest was not going to fix right away.

No matter how much I got done, there was always a reason to keep going. One more email that could still be answered before I logged off. One more task that felt important in that exact moment, even if it had not felt important an hour before. One more thing I told myself I could squeeze in, just this once, before I let myself leave.

It was not really about the list. Lists end, eventually, one way or another. This did not.

It was about how I was making decisions in that moment. Everything felt urgent. Everything felt like it needed me right then, before I could possibly step away and leave it alone for a week.

I know part of where that comes from. I have spent most of my career being the one who follows through. The one who handles things. The one people can count on to make sure it actually gets done. I am not saying that like a complaint. Most of it, I am proud of. But it also means I learned how to keep going long before I ever learned how to ask myself whether I needed to.

The Question I Started Asking

At some point, I had to stop and ask myself something more honest than whether I had finished the list.

Is this actually urgent? Or is this just how I have trained myself to respond?

Because the truth is, no matter how much I got through, there was always something else waiting behind it. Something else I could have added. Something else that could have been wrapped up if I had just stayed one more hour.

The list was never actually going to run out. I was going to run out first.

And I think that is the part that is easy to miss when you are the one who always follows through. You start to believe the urgency is coming from the work. Some of the time, it is coming from you.

Not Just a Vacation Problem

I do not think this is only a vacation problem. I think it is a low hum underneath a lot of ordinary days, for a lot of us.

You do not need my particular circumstances to know this feeling. You just need a life that is full enough, in whatever shape that takes for you, that most things start to feel like they cannot wait. That is most of us, more days than we would like to admit.

It is rarely about the list itself. It is about how many things have learned to speak in that same urgent voice, until we stop trusting ourselves to tell which ones actually mean it.

So I made a different decision. I still make the list. I do not think I will ever stop doing that, and I do not think I need to.

But now I actually look at it before I start working through it, instead of starting at the top and pushing until I run out of time. I ask myself which of these things actually needs to happen before I leave, and which of them just feels like it does because it has been sitting on the page long enough to seem important. And then I leave the rest there. On purpose. Without finishing it first.

That part is still not easy for me, even now. Some of what I leave on the list still nags at me a little, even once I have already decided to leave it there. But nagging is not the same as necessary, and I am learning to tell the difference.

Because here is what I finally let myself believe. The work will still be there when I get back. It always is. But my energy is not going to just be there waiting, however I happened to spend it. That is something I have to lead. On purpose, not by accident, and not because a list told me it mattered.

I still feel the pull some days. The one more email. The one more thing. I do not think that voice goes away completely, and I have stopped expecting it to.

What is different is that I do not automatically believe it anymore.

What is on your list right now that feels urgent, even though it might not be? And what would it actually cost you to leave it there, just this once?

This season has been full in many good ways. I am continuing to grow Mission ENSPIRE, preparing for speaking engagements and managing the responsibilities of my leadership role in my day job. None of these things are new to me, and none of them are unwelcome. In fact, they are deeply aligned with my purpose. But alignment does not automatically guarantee sustainability, and that is where I have had to pause.

As leaders, especially as women who lead in multiple spaces, we often become very skilled at carrying a lot. We know how to show up. We know how to deliver. We know how to hold space for others while quietly managing our own expectations and responsibilities in the background. Over time, that capacity becomes something people rely on. Sometimes we rely on it too.

But just because we are capable does not mean we are always operating within healthy capacity.

I have learned that when my energy begins to shift, it rarely announces itself in dramatic ways. It does not usually look like burnout in the way we imagine it. More often, it shows up as subtle irritability, or a slower pace in my creativity, or a feeling that even meaningful work requires more effort than usual. It is less about collapse and more about erosion. And that is usually my signal to pay attention.

Recently, I did what I would describe as a quiet energy audit. I did not overhaul my calendar or make sweeping declarations. Instead, I asked myself a few honest questions. Where am I feeling energized right now? Where am I feeling stretched? Are there commitments I have taken on out of habit rather than intention? Are there places where I am defaulting to availability instead of alignment?

What I noticed was not catastrophic, but it was instructive. There were small “yeses” that did not fully reflect this season. There were moments where I had extended myself simply because I could. There were areas where I had not clearly defined what was mine to carry and what was not. None of those things were inherently wrong. But collectively, they were costly.

Energy, I am realizing more deeply, is not just about sleep or rest days, although those matter. It is about stewardship. It is about recognizing that my leadership, my creativity, my clarity and even my presence with my family are all connected to how well I manage what I allow to draw from me.

This month, I have been reflecting on this topic even more intentionally because I am one of the speakers inside MEE Month, and Week 2 of the experience focused on Energy. My session is titled Stop Pouring From an Empty Cup: Energy Boundaries for Women Who Lead, and in it I explore many of these same questions from a coaching perspective.

Even though Energy Week has passed, the sessions are available throughout the month, and I wanted to share this with you because I know how easy it is to normalize depletion when you are competent and committed. In my session, I talk about recognizing where energy is quietly leaking, setting boundaries that are sustainable rather than reactive, and reframing self-care not as indulgence but as leadership strategy.

If you have been feeling slightly off, slightly stretched, or simply more tired than your schedule seems to justify, this conversation may resonate with you.

As I continue reflecting on energy and alignment, I am also beginning to notice how closely connected this topic is to perfectionism. Sometimes we overextend not because we lack boundaries, but because we are trying to meet an internal standard that keeps moving. We tell ourselves we just need to do a little more, refine a little more, prove a little more.

This is not the first time I have wrestled with this tension. In From Perfectionist to Progress-Seeker: Embracing the Imperfect Journey, I began exploring what it means to loosen the grip of perfectionism. Next month, I want to explore that more fully and talk about what it really means to move from perfectionism to progress, and how releasing unrealistic standards can restore not only our confidence, but our capacity. Because protecting your energy is one step. Learning to stop holding yourself to impossible expectations may be the next.