In many areas of your life, you have created a safety net. If someone hits your vehicle, you have auto insurance that covers you just in case the person doesn’t have coverage. Natural disasters are happening more and more, and no one can predict if their home will catch fire, so you purchase homeowners’ insurance.
When life gets bumpy, and you’re ready to pull your hair out, there is no safety net for your well-being. This ends today, Sister, you bring too much amazingness to the world not to prioritize your well-being.
Three Ways to Maintain Well-Being
- Speaking your mind is a healthy mental wellness practice, especially for Black women, who are so often penalized for doing so. We as Black women deserve to have our voices heard, for much too long, we’ve been pushed into silence.
- The cultural expectation to project strength and caretake while suppressing emotions actively harms mental health. An important goal is learning to manage emotions rather than push them down. Difficult emotions can signal unmet needs or unresolved stress; they’re not something to eliminate, but to work with. Healthy coping, like movement, creativity, rest, and community, builds resilience without requiring you to pretend.
- Mental wellness isn’t just about limiting harmful interactions; it’s also about nurturing healthy ones. Lean into relationships that are mutually beneficial, supportive, and affirming, where you feel seen, heard, and respected. And if that relationship is more time with yourself, that counts too.
Wrap-Up
Taking care of yourself is both an act of survival and an act of defiance. If you are looking for a culturally competent life coach to guide you on your wellness journey, join me on Substack. Let’s connect on Substack at https://substack.com/@transformationagentforblackwomen.
