It took me another couple of years to really begin to master [self-care], to do something as simple as take Sundays (or a weekend) off and here’s the kicker— not feel guilty about it. Where does that guilt come from? I suspect it’s old, old colonial shit. Really, I hate to be crass, but it’s true. If we think about the fact that colonization enslaved our peoples of color for centuries, and required that we work non-stop or be killed. It messed with our sense of balance. So that work ethic we’re proud of and that Corporate America loves us for. well, the irony is that if it goes unchecked and unbalanced it does what our ancestors were trying to avoid back in their enslaved days — it kills us.
My ancestors did not die and survive for me to make myself sick or kill myself in this system of corporate greed. This is how I stopped feeling guilty. I walk my path as whole and healthy as possible because I answer to those who sacrificed for me to exist. I want to model health for those younger folks and children I love. People who love you will ask you to stop and slow down, because they want to see you healthy. All of us have worked with unhealthy people, and in the end, it does more damage than good.
—Adelina Anthony — Q&A with Queer Xicana-Indígena Artist Adelina Anthony (via fyqueerlatinxs)
(Source: xQsimagazine.com, via noterajeschicanita)
