A Latina’s Perspectives on the Other Side of Resilience
Why strength also means knowing when to rest, receive, and replenish.
Hard work, perseverance, family loyalty, sacrifice and care taking is a staple of many Latino families. And so is resourcefulness and finding a way forward even when circumstances are difficult. There is a genuine beauty and strength in that too. I witnessed these values firsthand as the daughter of Dominican immigrants. My parents left the Dominican Republic and eventually brought me to the United States when I was very young, driven by the possibility of opportunities they believed a new country could provide.
What happens when resilience becomes synonymous with enduring everything? Is it then normalized to “keep going” as an automatic response to any scenario no matter what? This happens a lot in a culture that values this style of living, but it can lead to genuine burnout and creating a life they never intended—one built around constant responsibility rather than actually enjoying what all that hard work was meant to create.
As a Latina, I recognize the pride that can come with being strong, capable and someone your family can depend on. But being dependable can quietly become an expectation that you will always be the one who carries more.
Often the women in these families – the mothers, daughters and sisters who are also professionals, caregivers and entrepreneurs tend to take the biggest impact of giving all. These women who becomes the organizers, emotional supports and problem solvers of families give to the point of not having enough for themselves. Who replenishes the women everyone relies on?
There is a pattern that appears in these family dynamics where they mentally say to themselves “I’m fine, I can handle it. I’ll rest later.” While the body tells another story of tension, exhaustion, difficulty slowing down, feeling emotionally overloaded and working themselves to the point of depletion. This is an all-too-common experience even within my own family with a mother who was a teacher and worked until often 1am to wake up at 6am with minimal sleep. It became a pattern so hard to break that even in retirement she wasn’t able to relax and get the amount of rest the body truly needs.
Changing the pattern generationally
Rest isn’t the opposite of resilience, but it is one of the things that makes resilience sustainable. And it doesn’t mean just sleep. It can mean, time to decompress in nature, or 5 min to sit in silence within your own home. Often this meant telling my mother to rest while I took care of the dishes, prepped the dinner, or shut down the house for the night. Receiving support doesn’t diminish our strength as I often told her. It gives you the energy to be stronger tomorrow and replenishes our energy so we can continue showing up without completely draining ourselves.
That has led to generational change. Something we need to establish as a new norm within our Latino culture and families now and down the line. What if the next evolution isn’t teaching our children only how to work hard and persevere, but also how to recognize their limits, regulate themselves, ask for support, rest and receive? That’s a powerful Latino-family angle without criticizing the generations before us.
There’s a new philosophy we need to adopt: Choosing yourself doesn’t mean choosing yourself instead of your family. It means finally including yourself among the people worthy of your care. And I know this is hard, but it has to be your care first and then others because without you they won’t receive the support they need. I watched my mother deplete herself and have little left for our family let alone for herself. It has taken years to undo the damage the ‘everyone first’ philosophy has caused for her.
I promised myself it would end with me.
The next evolution of resilience
If you’re ready to choose yourself—not because you need to become more resilient, but because you’ve been resilient for long enough—there’s an opportunity this October in Sedona to experience another side of strength. The Recharged Retreat is a 1 day experience where you get supported by 4 local wellness practitioners. It’s a safe and nourishing space for the people that are tired of holding everything together and want to finally receive.
Receiving includes nervous-system education, somatic work, self-massage, sound healing, acupuncture, nature, connection, intentional rest, and practical tools participants can take back into everyday life.
Details below:
What: The Recharged Retreat
When: October 17th, 2026, 10am-5pm
Where: Sedona, Arizona (red rock country)
Details: tinyurl.com/sedonarechargedretreat
Perhaps the other side of resilience isn’t learning how to endure more. Maybe it’s learning that we don’t have to.
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A Latina Leader Redefines Success from the Inside Out
Solo Travel: How It Builds Confidence, Resilience & Self-Trust
Entrepreneurship and Resilience in the Journey toward Success
