NO. 01 Front desk
Nobody warns you about October
September has adrenaline. December has a countdown. October has neither, and that is exactly why it is the month people quietly run out of gas.
The back-to-school push is over. The routines are set, the novelty has worn off, and the calendar between here and Thanksgiving is a solid wall of instructional days. Add conferences, a testing window, and the first real wave of parent email, and you get the month that most quietly takes people apart.
So this issue is not a pep talk. It is a set of tools you open at the moment you need one — a shelf of envelopes, an honest read on where your energy is actually going, and a place to put the worry that is following you to the parking lot.
Everything on this page saves to your own device and nowhere else. No accounts, no tracking, nothing reported to anyone.
If you only do three things
- Take the Energy Audit. Six sliders, a couple of minutes, and an honest read on what is draining you.
- Sign up for Walktober. It starts October 1. Free, any pace, and steps are not the only thing that counts.
- Check your benefits before November 6. Open enrollment runs October 12 through November 6, with no late window.
Everything else is here when you need it: envelopes for the hard days, a worry window, a stew that feeds a crowd, and a staff song board.
Making it official
TRACE is one of America's Healthiest Schools
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation named TRACE School to its 2026 list of America's Healthiest Schools, and this year we picked up four more areas of recognition. None of these are participation ribbons. Every one of them reflects work that staff in this building actually did.
School Health Services
Local School Wellness Policy
Nutrition & Food Access
Social-Emotional Health & Learning
Find TRACE School on the 2026 honoree list.
Awarded by 
NO. 02 The shelf
Open when…
Nine envelopes. Do not read them all now — leave the tab open and come back when one of them is true. They stay open once you have read them.
Opened envelopes are remembered on this device.
Nobody ever tells you how to fill the cup in the middle of October.
The part they leave out
NO. 03 The centerpiece
Where is your energy actually going?
Six sliders. Be honest — nobody sees this but you. Slide left for the things that have been draining you, right for the ones that have been filling the tank.
Where you are
—
Two things to try
Why this one matters
Burnout does not usually arrive as one big thing. It shows up as five small drains nobody named out loud. Naming two of them is most of the work.
NO. 04 Eight minutes
The worry window
Worry expands to fill whatever space you give it. So give it eight minutes and a hard edge. Type everything that is chewing on you. When the window closes, it clears — and you answer one question.
08:00
This text is never saved — not to this device, not anywhere. Closing the window erases it on purpose.
Window closed
Now the only question that matters
Of everything you just wrote down, which parts are actually yours to carry? Some of it belongs to an administrator, a family, a system, or next month. Say the ones that are yours out loud, and put the rest down until Monday.
If the same worry shows up in this window three weeks running, that is not a worry anymore. That is a problem, and it deserves a person — a colleague, your union rep, or a counselor through VEBA.
If it is heavier than a bad week
988
Call or text, any hour, any day. The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is for anyone in real distress, not only for the worst moment. Free and confidential.
NO. 05 Walktober
Walktober
The challenge runs October 1 through October 31. Free to enter, no fitness level assumed, and steps are not the only thing that counts.
The challenge
A month of movement, a little friendly competition, and not much else. Steps count, and so does anything else that gets you moving. Think of it as permission to take the long way in.
Runs October 1 through October 31. Sign-ups are open.
Register for Walktober
Your own quiet count
Just for you — kept on this device, not reported anywhere. Nobody is checking your number but you.
October is good for walking
The heat finally breaks, the light goes gold around five, and the tourists have gone home. Three that are worth the drive:
- Sunset Cliffs at golden hour. Flat, free, and it does not feel like exercise.
- Lake Murray for a straight, shadeless, no-decisions loop.
- Los Peñasquitos Canyon to the falls if you have a whole morning.
And if a walk is not happening this month: October is Physical Therapy Month. Whatever has been aching since August is worth one appointment.
TRACE Schools · Rise & Shine · October 2026
NO. 06 Lunch
Delicata squash & white bean stew
One pot, about forty minutes, and it is better on day two — which makes it a Sunday-night investment in your Tuesday. Delicata is the squash you do not have to peel. Vegan as written.
Method
Freezes well without the kale. If your store has no delicata, butternut works — you will just have to peel it.
Passed along
Two things worth knowing about lunch
The recipe above handles what. These handle when and why you feel like that at 1:45. Tap either one to open it full size.
Shared for general interest, not medical advice. Bodies differ — if something here conflicts with what your own clinician tells you, listen to them.
Printed from the staff wellness letter. Amounts reflect the serving count set on the page.
NO. 07 Benefits desk
Open enrollment is the most valuable hour of your year
One hour of paperwork decides what your family pays for health care for the next twelve months. Most of us skip it and roll over by default. Here is the short list.
This year's window: October 12 through November 6. District open enrollment page
0 of 6 done
Saved on this device.
Already paid for
California Schools VEBA
Your benefits include things almost nobody uses: free resource centers with fitness and cooking classes, one-on-one health coaching, and an advocacy team that will fight a claim denial for you. None of it costs extra.
While you are in there
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Screening mammograms are covered as preventive care at no cost to you. If you have been putting it off since spring, book it in the same hour you do your enrollment — you are already in the mood for paperwork.
NO. 08 Add yours
The Wellness Champion Playlist
Send us the song that brings you joy, gets you moving, or just makes you smile — your go-to morning song, your workout anthem, the one that resets you on the drive home.
The board is still blank. Whatever you send first goes up in the middle of it.
How it works
Every song goes up on the board, so it ends up looking like whatever the staff room actually sounds like.
Every song also goes into our shared Apple Music playlist, so you can press play on what your colleagues are listening to.
No account, no sign-in, and you can send more than one.
NO. 09 Staff meeting
District bulletin
Oct 10World Mental Health Day
Saturday. A good day to do the thing you would tell a student to do. VEBA counseling and health coaching are included in your benefits — using them is not a last resort.
Oct 12Open enrollment opens
Runs October 12 through November 6. Put November 6 in your phone today — it is the one deadline this fall with a twelve-month consequence. District open enrollment page
Oct 16Big Smiles registration deadline
Last day to register students for the October 23 dental clinic. Sign up at myschooldentist.com or use Annie Stukes' paper forms, then send her your list so she knows who to expect.
Oct 21Unity Day — wear orange
PACER's national bullying prevention day. Sites are organizing their own version; check with your site rep. Staff photos welcome for the November letter.
Oct 23Big Smiles Dental Clinic
Friday, TRACE Main, Room 11. Mobile cleanings and preventive care for students, on campus.
Oct 31Halloween falls on a Saturday
Which means Friday the 30th is the costume day and you have the actual holiday to yourself. Plan accordingly.
Nov 1Komen San Diego More Than Pink Walk
Sunday, 8 a.m., Balboa Park. A breast cancer awareness walk open to anyone who wants to join — walkers, strollers, and dogs all welcome. Register for the walk
This month
Big Smiles Dental Clinic returns
Friday, October 23, 2026
TRACE Main, Room 11.
Mobile cleanings and preventive care for students, on campus.
Register students by Friday, October 16 at myschooldentist.com, or on Annie's paper forms.
Annie Stukes RN · 619 894 5304
Tell us
What do you want in November?
This letter is only useful if it is the one you would actually open. Recipes, challenges, a section we are missing — send it over.
Next issue
November: Enough
Gratitude without the obligation, the first dark drive home after the time change, and a potluck dish that is not a casserole. Plus one book, one month, and no meeting — the reading room opens in November.