Explain your statement: I want my sisters to understand that mental health is their health. It directly influences all that we do and who we are. We must cherish it and cultivate it. Self-care isn’t selfish. … it is self-first. It is more than a spa day.
We have been taught historically to abandon our own needs for others. We are constantly getting this message of self-sacrifice. … We are also told simultaneously that we have a higher tolerance for stress than other people and that we should suck it up and keep moving. I get a lot of Black women that come in, and I have to give them permission to cry. Putting yourself first acknowledges that you are a human being and that you have the right to exist. And with having the right to exist, you have the right to care for yourself, without [an] issue from anybody, your spouse, your partner, your parent [or] your job; you better take those paid days off.
