The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to examine the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders who were presented with a variety of challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first primary research question was: What are the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders as it pertains to the social, emotional, and mental health difficulties and challenges while leading during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to August 2021)? Saturation was reached in this study with 8 participants, who were K-12 school leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to August 2021), due to no new categories or patterns being discovered (Creswell, 2007). The research methodology was phenomenological and used interviews and an online questionnaire. From the data gleaned from the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders, who participated in the study, experience, facing the challenges, overcoming stressors, putting mitigation and preventative strategies into place, and advocating for self-care and well-being became the main themes related to the research questions. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed compassion fatigue and the extreme need to promote self-care for those in the field of K-12 school leadership during the pandemic, and for immediate and consistent access to mental health, educational and fiscal resources. The pandemic has overwhelmingly necessitated and precipitated into the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders as they faced conflict, challenges, struggle, stressors, and fatigue in the areas of social, emotional health and well-being. The disruption school leaders faced during the COVID-19 crisis, has brought forth how necessary it is for the voices of school leaders, educators and needs of the students to be heard and acted on. Findings from the data from this study provide evidence for crisis measures to be put into place for K-12 school leaders as they respond to such as a pandemic, recover from crisis, and to strengthen their resilience, faith, and promotion of self-care and well-being for any future crises. The data also support an increase in research related to school leaders and having resiliency when bouncing back from crisis. The school leader's plan always needs prepared, in sight, and ready to implement, just in case. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]