For too long, Latinas have been told that our worth is measured in sacrifice. We are praised for how much we can endure, how many people we can care for, how little we can ask for ourselves. To rest is seen as indulgent. To say no is framed as selfish. To prioritize our bodies and our minds is too often dismissed as weakness. But I want to say this clearly: wellness is not a luxury. It is not a treat to be earned after the work is done. Wellness is a necessity, and it is the foundation of our leadership and longevity.
Look around our communities and you will see women carrying entire ecosystems on their backs. Professionals breaking into industries that were not built with us in mind. Students studying late into the night while helping raise siblings at home. Mothers balancing caregiving, work, and side businesses with a grace that hides how exhausted they truly are. Activists and organizers holding the line for immigrant rights, labor protections, and community survival. We call it resilience, but resilience without restoration eventually becomes depletion. And when we are depleted, the communities that depend on us lose their strongest advocates.
This is why wellness is not optional. It is strategic. It is protective. It is what allows us to sustain the work of leadership for the long haul.
But wellness does not have to look like what mainstream culture sells us. It is not only yoga retreats in Bali or expensive spa days. Wellness for Latinas can be as immediate and accessible as the rituals our families already know. Cooking nourishing meals from ancestral recipes that heal body and spirit. Walking outside in fresh air and letting the rhythm of our footsteps steady us. Saying yes to ten minutes of quiet before the house wakes. Calling a trusted comadre to laugh and cry together. Prayer, music, dance—these are not just cultural expressions, they are forms of wellness passed down through generations.
What we must break is the myth that caring for ourselves is selfish. It is not. It is an act of responsibility. A leader who neglects her health eventually cannot lead. A mother who never rests eventually cannot give. A student who burns out cannot finish the race she started. Choosing wellness is not choosing self over community—it is choosing self for community. Because when we are well, we are sharper, stronger, more creative, more present.
I know the guilt can be heavy. Many of us grew up watching women we love pour themselves out endlessly, convinced that their only value was in how much they could give away. To do differently can feel like betrayal. But it is not betrayal. It is legacy. Imagine what it would mean for the next generation of Latinas to grow up watching us lead with balance, seeing us rest without shame, watching us protect our bodies and spirits with the same fierceness we protect our families. That is a model of strength they desperately need.
Wellness is also economic. Chronic stress and preventable health conditions are some of the biggest barriers to long-term success in our communities. They rob us of time, of resources, of opportunities. Investing in wellness—through healthy food, regular movement, preventive care, mental health support—is investing in our future earning power, our ability to grow businesses, our capacity to stay in leadership roles. The healthier we are, the longer we can build and sustain.
So let us reframe wellness as essential infrastructure for Latina power. It is not an indulgence at the edges of our lives—it belongs at the center. Make the doctor’s appointment. Block time for rest. Say no when your body says no. Create circles of accountability with friends and colleagues who remind you that burnout is not a badge of honor. Treat wellness not as an afterthought, but as part of the strategy for how we rise.
Because here is the truth: leadership without wellness is short-lived. Success without health is hollow. And sacrifice without restoration is unsustainable.
The Latina future we are building will demand endurance, creativity, and vision. To sustain it, we must declare wellness not as luxury but as necessity. And when we live that truth, unapologetically, we do more than care for ourselves—we build the strength to lead for generations to come.
