Leading Well Through the Holiday Season – a six-part series aimed to help you lead and live well throughout the Holiday Season (Week 3)
By Bianca Schaefer
Week 3: Leading Well with Emotional Strength
A friend recently confided in me, “I can lead a room full of people, but I can’t always lead my emotions.” I think many of us feel that more than we admit. Leadership often requires courage, clarity, and presence—but inside, we may be carrying complex emotions that don’t always match the strength we project outwardly. During the holiday season especially, emotions tend to surface more quickly and more intensely than usual.
The holidays stir a wide spectrum of feelings—joy and anticipation, but also grief, comparison, pressure, discouragement, or loneliness. Emotional leadership begins not by suppressing these emotions, but by acknowledging what is true inside you so you can lead others with authenticity and compassion. Emotional strength is not about being unaffected; it’s about being anchored.
This week is an invitation to slow down long enough to notice what’s happening in your inner world so your leadership flows from grounded emotional health.
1. Name Your Emotions
Unnamed emotions often become unhealthy emotions. When you don’t identify what you’re feeling, it tends to surface in unhelpful ways—irritation, withdrawal, overworking, or internal pressure.
Naming emotions is not weakness; it’s wisdom.
Try simple statements:
I’m feeling overwhelmed.
I’m feeling excited.
I’m feeling unseen.
I’m feeling hopeful.
Bringing emotions into the light gives them structure. God can transform what you’re willing to acknowledge.
2. Check Your Emotional Load
Not every emotion is yours to carry. During the holidays, leaders often absorb the emotions of others—team members who are stressed, family expectations, people who are grieving, or communities looking for hope. But your calling is not to carry everyone’s emotional weight.
Ask yourself:
Is this mine, or am I absorbing someone else’s pressure?
Is this something I’m meant to support, or am I trying to fix what only God can heal?
Surrender is emotional stewardship. Release what is not yours so you can carry what God has actually entrusted to you.
3. Lead from Emotional Honesty
Strong leaders don’t hide emotions—they steward them. Emotional honesty doesn’t mean oversharing or making others responsible for your feelings. It means leading from a place of authenticity, not performance.
Consider these small practices:
Pause before responding.
Honour what you feel without letting it dictate your decisions.
Bring your emotions into prayer before you bring them to people.
Communicate with clarity instead of reacting from pressure.
When you lead with emotional honesty, people experience your strength and your humanity—and this builds trust.
Leadership Challenge:
Write down three emotions you’re experiencing this week. Identify:
One emotion that needs prayer,
One emotion that needs boundaries, and
One emotion that needs rest.
Notice what changes when you honour each emotion with intention.
Scripture Meditation
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” — Psalm 34:18, NIV
Let this truth remind you that God meets you most tenderly in the places you often hide.
Prayer
Lord, strengthen my emotions with Your truth. Help me name what I’m feeling, release what isn’t mine to carry, and lead from honesty rather than pressure. Meet me in the deep places of my heart and anchor me with Your peace. Amen.
Blessing
May God meet you tenderly in your emotional spaces and give you courage to lead with honesty, wisdom, and grace.