The Post-Commencement Crash is Real

Chinyere Oparah
2 days ago
3 min read

Honestly, I didn’t fully realize the depth of my own fatigue until the semester finally ended.

And this comes during a season when I’ve been doing work I deeply love: teaching graduate leadership students and emerging sociologists, supporting leaders navigating institutional and political complexity, helping organizations think about neuroinclusive cultures, and coaching courageous leaders doing transformational work under difficult conditions.

I know I'm not alone: As commencement season ends and the summer beckons, many of us in higher education and K-12 leadership are simply running on fumes. Behind the joyful smiles and genuine pride in our students' accomplishments, many leaders are deep-in-the-bones exhausted.

Because even meaningful work is depleting when there is too much to carry and too little time to recover.

Sociology faculty at USF celebrate Commencement

This year has required many of us to absorb enormous amounts of uncertainty, urgency, grief, conflict, and vicarious stress — while continuing to lead, teach, mentor, advocate, and hold institutions together.

Leadership rarely comes with a true summer

Those of us who have served in faculty roles in the past may remember the summer as a welcome time of replenishment and creativity. But leaders seldom experience a true summer. Instead, summer becomes the season of:

deferred projects,
difficult strategic decisions,
budget challenges,
restructuring, and
preparation for yet another intense academic year.

And too often, before the summer even begins, we get that panicky feeling that we are already behind.

I’m increasingly convinced that we desperately need a different cadence for academic leadership.

We cannot simply sprint through an exhausting year, celebrate commencement, and immediately begin absorbing the next wave of pressures and priorities without space to replenish, reflect, and reconnect with our lives beyond work.

Let's re-imagine summer, together

What if summer could also be:

a season for restoration
for celebration
for pause
for reconnecting with family, community, creativity, and joy?

I initially imagined this summer as a time to knuckle down and start serious work on a book on liberated leadership. But after working with my coach, I realized I needed something radically different.

I needed to slow down and create space for renewal before asking my tired brain to do its best work.

So this summer, instead of doing more, I will take more time to simply be. That means more time by the ocean and in nature, more space for creativity, and more presence with the miracle of watching my 16-year-old begin to imagine the mark she wants to make in the world.

And alongside taking time to exhale, I’m intentionally creating space this summer to work with a small number of higher education and mission-driven leaders seeking renewal, space to discern what's next, and more sustainable ways of leading.

These summer coaching engagements will focus on topics like:

burnout recovery and sustainable leadership
navigating institutional transition and uncertainty
strategic courage and leadership clarity
career discernment and next chapter planning
exploring the impact of neurodivergence and cognitive differences on leadership, wellbeing, communication, and sustainable ways of working
reconnecting leadership with purpose, joy, and wellbeing

Because I believe passionately in the transformative power of coaching. And:

when leaders model sustainable, impactful and joyful leadership, we create workplace cultures where liberation from the grind becomes possible – for everyone.

For leaders with remaining professional development or discretionary funds available before fiscal year close, summer can be a rare opportunity to invest in ourselves without guilt about taking resources away from other pressing needs.

If this resonates, please reach out for a leadership clarity call. I'd love to hear what's on your mind as you enter the next season.

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About the Center for Liberated Leadership

The Center for Liberated Leadership connects and supports BIPOC, women, LGBTQ and transformational leaders so that they can lead with authenticity, purpose and joy. The Center's executive coaches help leaders navigate uncertain contexts with courage and strategy, beat burnout and maintain sustainable work practices.