Self-Care is a Radical Act: Rest as Resistance This Black History Month

This Black History Month, we're talking about something that might sound counterintuitive in a world that glorifies hustle culture: rest. Not just sleep. Not just a bubble bath on Sunday. We're talking about rest as a deliberate, radical act of reclaiming your peace in a world that profits from your exhaustion.

Because here's the truth: for Black communities, rest isn't a luxury. It's resistance.

Why Rest Feels Like Rebellion

For generations, Black people have been told: explicitly and implicitly: that their worth is tied to what they produce. From the trauma of enslavement to modern workplace discrimination, the narrative has been the same: you must prove you deserve to exist by working harder, longer, and without complaint.

Dr. Isiah Pickens, a licensed clinical psychologist, puts it perfectly: "Many felt they needed permission to rest without first proving they had earned it." This year, more people are asking a harder question: Why must we always be resilient? And who benefits from that expectation?

The answer? Systems that thrive on burnout. Capitalism that needs your constant productivity. Cultures that mistake your exhaustion for dedication.

So when you choose to rest: to put down the cape, to step back from the grind, to say "I'm worthy even when I'm still": you're doing something revolutionary. You're rejecting the lie that your value comes from how much you can endure.

The Cost of Constant Survival Mode

Occupational therapist Dr. Brea Brown warns that living in constant states of alertness leads to serious health complications. When your nervous system is stuck in fight-or-flight mode: always on, always ready, always bracing for the next crisis: your body pays the price.

We're talking about:

• Chronic stress and anxiety
• Hypervigilance that never turns off
• Physical inflammation and illness
• Emotional depletion and numbness
• The feeling that you're running on fumes but can't stop

And the hardest part? We've been conditioned to call this "strength." To wear our exhaustion like a badge of honor. To glorify sleepless nights and packed schedules.

But strength isn't about how much you can carry until you break. Real strength is knowing when to put it down.

Journaling as a Safe Space for Your Story

This is where your self care journal becomes more than just a notebook. It becomes a sanctuary. A place where you don't have to perform, produce, or prove anything.

When you open your mindfulness journal, you're creating a safe space to:

• Process what you're actually feeling (not what you think you should feel)
• Release the weight of other people's expectations
• Honor your own pace without apology
• Document your healing journey as it unfolds
• Give yourself permission to be human

Journaling for mental health isn't about perfectly structured entries or poetic prose. It's about showing up on the page: messy, raw, real: and saying, "This is where I am today. And that's enough."

Try this simple prompt to get started:

"What would rest look like for me today if I believed I didn't have to earn it?"

Write whatever comes up. No filter. No judgment. Just you and the page.

Building a Grounding Daily Ritual

Rest as resistance isn't just about big acts: it's also about the small, intentional moments you claim for yourself throughout the day. This is where essential oils become part of your liberation toolkit.

Creating a grounding ritual with essential oil blends helps you anchor into the present moment. It signals to your nervous system: You're safe. You can slow down. You're allowed to be here, right now, exactly as you are.

Here's a simple 5-minute daily ritual:

Morning Reset (before the world demands anything from you):

1. Light a candle or sit by a window
2. Apply a grounding essential oil blend like Zen Again to your wrists and temples
3. Take 3 deep breaths: in through your nose, out through your mouth
4. Open your journal and write: "Today, I'm choosing to honor..." (and finish the sentence however feels true)

Evening Release (letting go of what the day took from you):

1. Diffuse a calming blend like Beast at Peace
2. Sit with your journal and ask yourself: "What can I release before I rest?"
3. Write freely for 3-5 minutes
4. Close the journal, take one more deep breath, and let it go

These rituals aren't about adding more to your to-do list. They're about carving out moments where you exist outside of productivity. Where your only job is to be present with yourself.

Rest is Community Care

Entrepreneur James W. Preston II reminds us: "We can't wait for systems to save us. We save each other." Rest as resistance isn't just an individual practice: it's a collective one.

When you give yourself permission to rest, you give others permission too. When you model that your worth isn't tied to your output, you disrupt the narrative for everyone around you.

This Black History Month, consider:

• Sharing your rest practice with a friend and holding space for each other's healing
• Creating boundaries around work, social media, and emotional labor
• Participating in joyful activities that have nothing to do with productivity
• Seeking mental health support as a proactive act of care (not just crisis management)
• Surrounding yourself with people who celebrate your stillness, not just your hustle

The REST 2026 series in Chicago opened this month with a Black Therapist Panel exploring rest as resistance to burnout, mental health beyond survival mode, and community care as a protective factor. These conversations matter because they normalize rest as a necessity, not a privilege.

Healing Itself is Resistance

You are enough. Right now. As you are. Even when you're still.

That message: simple as it sounds: is radical. Because the world will tell you the opposite every single day. It will tell you that you need to do more, be more, prove more.

But when you choose restoration over survival mode, when you claim your peace as non-negotiable, when you open your journal and write your truth without apology: you reclaim your power.

Your self care journal isn't just a book of blank pages. It's a tool of liberation. It's where you write the story you were told you didn't have time to tell. It's where you give yourself the tenderness the world withholds.

And those essential oils? They're not just nice scents. They're sensory anchors that ground you back into your body when the world tries to pull you out of it. They're reminders that you deserve softness. That you deserve rituals that honor your well-being.

Start Small, Start Today

You don't need a perfect routine or a complete overhaul of your life. You just need to start.

Pick one:

• Open your journal and write for 5 minutes about what rest would feel like if you believed you deserved it
• Apply an essential oil blend and take 3 intentional breaths before your next task
• Say no to one thing this week that drains you (even if it feels uncomfortable)
• Reach out to someone who makes you feel safe and seen

Rest as resistance starts with permission. And you don't need to wait for anyone to give it to you.

This Black History Month, we honor the ancestors who fought for our freedom by claiming the peace they dreamed we'd have. We resist by resting. We heal by being still. And we reclaim our power by refusing to burn out for systems that were never built to protect us.

Your rest matters. Your peace matters. You matter.

And it starts with one breath, one page, one moment where you choose yourself.

Ready to begin your rest revolution? Explore our essential oil collection and create a daily ritual that honors your healing. Your journey to reclaiming peace starts here.