Teachers Ed with Edward DeShazer

Gratitude, Growth, and the Next Step for Educators

• Edward DeShazer

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Start where you are, even if it’s a $30 mic at a kitchen table. That simple choice to move without seeing the whole staircase sparked a journey across classrooms, auditoriums, and continents—connecting with educators who are tired, hopeful, and ready to lead with purpose. We open the door on how a pandemic project evolved into a structured, sustainable speaking and consulting practice, born from an MBA challenge and shaped by hundreds of conversations with teachers and leaders searching for clarity.

We go deep on the unglamorous side of growth: sobriety as a practice of presence, endurance over performance, and the quiet disciplines that keep you centered when the calendar won’t. You’ll hear how gratitude keeps us grounded and growth keeps us moving, and why honoring your season—silence or support—isn’t optional if you want to serve well. Expect practical guidance on boundaries, rest without guilt, and letting go of habits or relationships that no longer serve the person you’re becoming.

To celebrate 50 episodes, we’re giving back with The Mindful Leader Journey, a 70-day journal designed for principals, teachers, and coaches who want daily prompts, affirmations, and intentional challenges that build self-awareness and steadier leadership. It’s a tool born from years of notes and reflections, now yours to put into practice. The message we leave you with is simple and actionable: don’t wait for perfect—take the next step with what you have. Subscribe for more stories and tools that help you stay grounded, grow with intention, and lead with peace. If this resonates, share it with a colleague and leave a review to help more educators find the show.

www.EdwardDeShazer.org

SPEAKER_01:

This podcast started with a$30 microphone sitting at my kitchen table while we were locked out of school. Because sometimes with that growth, you're not going to see the whole see the whole staircase. It's just about taking that next step.

SPEAKER_00:

If you're an educator that's passionate, but you're tired and you're burnt out and you're wondering what to do next, this is a show for you. We're going to learn together, we're going to recharge together, and we're going to grow together so you can be the best you and serve your students and your community to the best of your ability.

SPEAKER_01:

What's going on, Pod? Welcome to the Teachers Ed Podcast. I'm your host, Edward DeShazer. Teachers Ed Podcast is a place where the best and brightest in education come to be inspired, to connect, to learn, and to grow. And today we are celebrating something special. This is episode 50. Um, and I just want to start by saying thank you. Whether you have been listening since day one, or if this is your first episode, I am genuinely grateful that you are here. When I started this podcast, I was sitting at my kitchen table uh during COVID. I didn't have a team, I didn't have a studio, um, and I definitely didn't have a plan to reach tens of thousands of people with my voice. Um, all I had was a laptop, uh a little microphone, um, and I had a message. And at the time I was working on my MBA, first I did the, you know, I was doing the podcast during COVID because I knew teachers needed to hear something. People were struggling, curious if they were gonna go back to work, wondering what education was gonna look like. You know, there was a lot of challenges in front of us in about a year uh after launching the podcast. I was, you know, finishing up my MBA. And one of the courses I took uh challenged me to build a business from scratch. And I'd already been doing a little bit of speaking. I was speaking at schools here and there, you know, sharing my story with students, really helping them, spoke at a couple conferences, but that course forced me to think differently, to take something I was passionate about and to turn it into something structured, sustainable, excuse me, and scalable. And that assignment became uh ultimately became the foundation of what would become my speaking and consulting business. And when I look at where this journey has taken me from that kitchen table to traveling across um the world. I mean, I've been in Hawaii, I've been in London, uh Vegas, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Nashville, uh Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, um, and in other places that I that I haven't named, I'm reminded that the smallest beginnings often carry some of the biggest purpose. You know, I've stood in auditoriums filled with teachers who are tired but still hopeful. I've talked with leaders uh who were searching for direction but sh but still showed up for their people. Um and I realized that none of this happens without gratitude and growth. And, you know, over the years, this journey has stretched me in ways that I would have never expected, not just professionally, but personally. And I always like to talk about, you know, one of my biggest turning points being my sobriety and getting sober changed so much for me. And I say sober like I was just bumbling around uh drunk all the time. That wasn't the case uh, you know, over those last years before I completely quit drinking. Um, although, you know, years previous, I was drinking every time I had a problem. Every time I was coming home from work, it was, you know, bottle of wine after bottle of wine and all weekend would be drinking. Um so I say get sober, but it was really just I haven't had a drop. You know, uh for the last really COVID kind of pivoted things for me where I wasn't really drinking much of anything. It'd be like, you know, a glass of wine here and there. Um, but really getting to where I'm not having a drop, it helped me show up differently. Uh, not only for myself, uh not only for my family, uh, my students, but also the staff. You know, it gave me clarity, it gave me presence, and it gave me peace. Um it taught me a little bit of discipline and helped me understand what real strength looks like. Not just the kind that performs, but the kind that actually endures what's needed when you are in this profession, uh profession like education. And it also taught me that growth doesn't always look glamorous. Sometimes growth looks like silence. Sometimes it looks like tears. Sometimes it looks like saying no to the things that no longer serve the person that you're becoming. Sometimes it looks like saying no to the people that no longer serve uh the person that you're becoming in. That leads me to um it leads me to something that I want to say directly to every single educator. Um, and that's listening. Educators, honor your season. Sometimes your season is gonna be quiet, sometimes your season is gonna be isolation, um, sometimes it's gonna be pulling back so you can listen, so you can heal, and so you can rebuild. I've been there, and those seasons are not punishment, although it can feel like it. Sometimes they're just preparation. Other times your season is gonna be connection. You know, it's leaning on your loved ones, it's leaning on your friends, it's leaning on your circle, it's allowing people to pour into you when your cup is completely empty. But whatever season you're in, whether it's silence or support, it's okay. Don't rush it. Uh, don't compare it to someone else. Just honor it because both are absolutely necessary and both are going to teach you something at the other side of it. And I want to take a quick break. I want to put you on something that I have been absolutely loving. If you're a coffee drinker like me, I need you to check out Rise Mushroom Coffee. It's packed with six different functional mushrooms that support focus, steady energy, gut health, and even help you manage stress. For me, it's been super easy to make. It tastes great, and it helps keep me locked in without the jitters or without the crashes. And if you want to check it out, head over to Rise Superfoods, R-Y-Z-E, Superfoods.com, and use my code Edward DeShazer for 15% off your entire purchase or any purchase you may make. All right. Now, as I look back on these 50 episodes, I always I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude, not just for the opportunities, but for the lessons. Um, these the long nights of travel, the early flights, the moments of doubt, the breakthroughs, the people who have believed in me along the way. This journey has taught me gratitude. It's taught me growth, and it's taught me that both go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. Gratitude keeps you grounded and growth keeps you moving. And sometimes growth means taking your hands off the wheel for a second and just trusting that silence, trusting that space, trusting that version of you on the other side is gonna be worth the wait. And educators, I need you to hear me on this as well. You can't keep pouring out if you got nothing inside of you. You spend your days showing up for everyone else. You show up for your students, you show up for your staff, you show up for your community, you show up for your family. But when was the last time that you showed up for yourself, showed up for you? Being intentional about your own wellness is never selfish. It's necessary to survival. It's leadership and it's modeling what balance actually looks like. Pour back into yourself. I want you to rest without guilt, and I want you to say no when you absolutely need to, because that version of you that your students need is the one that's healthy, it's the one that's whole, and it's the one that is at peace. So if there is something in your life, if there is someone in your life, if there is a situation in your life, if there is a circumstance in your life, if there is a place, a thing, a habit that is in your life, I need you to let it go. Because nobody's peace is worth allowing things to be in your life that have no business being there anymore. That is what real leadership looks like. And now, as I get ready to kind of wind this down, because we are celebrating 50 episodes, I want to give something back to the listeners. If you're watching on YouTube, I want to give something back to you. If you had followed me for a while, if you've heard me speak at conferences, if you've heard me speak at events at your school, you know that I love to document my thoughts. My iPhone notes are filled with my ideas, they're filled with affirmations, they're filled with reflections, they're filled with whatever comes to my mind. And that is what actually inspired me to create the mindful leader journey. No one's seen this yet, nobody's heard of it, no one other than my wife and family have seen this. Uh, nobody's heard heard about it. So this is the first time I'm talking about, and I've had it for four to five months. It is a space for educators to process their thoughts, to set intentions, and to grow in self-awareness. Whether you are a principal, whether you're a teacher, whether you're a coach, this journal is for you. And here's the thing to celebrate this milestone, I'm not about to sell you something. I am going to give this away. I want to give away 50 copies. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see it. I hold it up, do whatever little thing that you do on YouTube to make it little effects, even though it's known effects. Um, but I want to give away 50 copies. Normally they will be selling for$25. But if you head to my website and you use code 50 as you put it in your cart, you will get it for free. You will just pay for the shipping and handling to get it to you. That is my thank you gift for you being on this journey with me. It is a phenomenal journal. It's 70 days to purpose-driven leadership. Each day has another affirmation, it has a challenge, and it just allows you to be intentional with how you are leading not only yourself, but the people around you. And when I started this podcast, I, you know, I didn't ever imagine that it would take me across 24 states or, you know, to London, or that I'd be standing in front of thousands of educators sharing my story. But I just knew I wanted to help. And that's the message I want to leave you with today. Start where you are. Don't wait until it's perfect. Don't wait until you have the plan fully figured out. Uh, start with what you have, start with where you are and let the growth happen along the way. Like I said, this podcast started with a$30 microphone sitting at my kitchen table while we were locked out of school. Because sometimes with that growth, you're not gonna see the whole, see the whole staircase. It's just about taking that next step. Wherever you are right now, whether you're in a classroom, your career, your personal life, it's okay to be there. If you are in a season of silence, I want you to honor that season. If you're in a season of leaning on others, I want you to embrace that season. If you're somewhere in between, just breathe and let it be. You're not behind. Stop comparing yourself to everyone else. You're not failing, you're growing. And that version of you that is gonna come out of this season is gonna be stronger, it's gonna be clearer, it's gonna be more grounded, and that's the one your students deserve. That's the one your community deserves, that's the one your coworkers deserve, that's the one your family deserves, and most importantly, that is the version that you deserve. So, again, thank you, thank you, thank you for 50 episodes. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for growing with me. And if you haven't, I always ask, please take a second to subscribe to the podcast. Please leave a review if you're listening on Apple. Um, and if you haven't, check us out on YouTube. That helps that check out, check us out on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, um, and share it with someone. You know, hit that little thumbs up button if you're watching it now. It it helps me get in front of more educators like you. And remember to head to uh my website and you can get your hands on the mindful leader. 70 days to purpose-driven leadership. Uh, I've worked on this for a year, I've been sitting on it for five or six months, and it's time for it to come out. It's time for me to help other educators be intentional with the journey that they're on. Um, but again, thank you all for joining me. Uh, keep believing yourself, keep believing in your students, keep believing in the work that you're doing uh because you are the difference. And here is two 50 more episodes of growth, of gratitude, and of purpose. See you all next week.