Wellness as Rebellion: The Radical Act of Choosing Peace

There is no demographic more scrutinized than the Black woman. A thirty–minute scroll on TikTok will reveal content declaring Black women unlovable, unemployable, and unworthy of grace. Another thirty minutes on Instagram insists our bodies are undesirable while simultaneously demanding we pour thousands of dollars into achieving the “perfect” aesthetic — that is, of course, if we can secure a man to fund it. Turn on the news, and the narrative shifts again: Black women are accused of stealing opportunities from white men and women across the country. Exhaustion doesn’t even begin to describe this experience. To constantly consume content that tells us we are undeserving of love, success, or a high–quality life is its own form of self-harm. In the face of this relentless criticism, choosing wellness and peace is not just self-preservation; it is an act of rebellion.     

         Black women’s generational exhaustion from discrimination and abuse stems all the way back to enslavement. During slavery, Black women’s bodies were never their own. The right of men to impose sex on an enslaved woman was not just tolerated but woven into the very fabric of the institution. According to the African American Intellectual History Society, overseers and slave drivers viewed sexual access to enslaved women as one of the privileges of their authority, especially as sex-segregated labor often left women isolated in the fields (2022). Historian Jennifer Fleischner described this exploitation as a “soul-murdering physical and psychological assault against the [black women’s] identity.” Besides inhumane, backbreaking labor, Black women endured physical violations that stripped them of dignity and humanity; a legacy that still echoes in today’s constant policing of our bodies, choices, expression, and worth. 

       That legacy is alive in modern culture, where media often becomes the new overseer. Reality television, in particular, puts Black women under a microscope, amplifying old stereotypes through new screens. On Love Island USA Season 7, Chelley Bissainthe and Olandria Carthen became targets of racialized scrutiny. After voicing concerns about fellow contestants’ behavior, they were quickly labeled “mean girls” — a stereotype that clings to Black women who dare to speak up or set boundaries. Offscreen, the abuse worsened: Olandria endured racist memes comparing her to George Floyd, death threats, and attacks on her family, while Chelley faced threats of violence from major publications like Buzzfeed. Even when they called for accountability from the show’s production and from fellow castmates, little protection was offered, leaving them exposed to a level of vitriol their white counterparts rarely faced. 

        Whether in the cotton fields, on social media, or on television, the message has been the same: Black women are unworthy of softness, protection, or rest. If history and modern media teach us anything, it’s that the world has never willingly offered Black women peace. Instead, society has demanded our labor, forced our silence, stolen our bodies, capitalized on our strength, and robbed us of our sanity. That is why prioritizing wellness is more than self-care; it is resistance. Every act of rest, every therapy session, every moment of stillness is a refusal to carry the burdens that were never ours to bear. To meditate, rest, set boundaries, exhale, or love oneself loudly is to resist centuries of systemic dehumanization. It is a refusal to let the world dictate the terms of our worth.

     The call, then, is simple but urgent: choose yourself. Choose rest even when the world demands your exhaustion. Choose joy even when society insists you are unworthy of it. Choose community, because healing in isolation cannot break generational wounds. Choose movement to nourish and strengthen the body you’re blessed to occupy. And choose peace, not as a retreat from the fight, but as the most radical weapon we have to rewrite the future. Wellness is not indulgence. For Black women, wellness is rebellion. 

Affirm: My rest is sacred, and my peace is powerful. I unapologetically choose joy, softness, and peace. My wellness is a legacy, and my healing ripples outward.