Breaking The Cycle: The Importance Of Self-Care For Children Of Mexican Immigrants

Growing up with Mexican immigrant parents it's instilled in many of us to work hard and never take a rest but is that mentality actually debilitating? The short answer is yes but why do we have this mentality?

Para Ser Alguien! To Be Someone!

So for many children of immigrants we are told that if we want to be someone in this land we have to work hard. That comes with saying yes to everything that is asked of us at a job, doing as much as we can to showoff our willingness to learn, and never missing a day of work. The 'never missing a day of school/work to be someone' mindset is instilled in so many children of immigrants that we are told never miss school even if we are sick, if the weather is bad, or even if we have to go to the doctor they always bring us back to school.

Tired Adults

While this works for winning good attendance awards in school and giving everyone the flu it's also bad when those children reach adulthood. This is because we tend to overwork ourselves to the point that we don't know the meaning of the word vacation and build up so much PTO that we could take a whole month off but we don't. We say yes to doing so much work because it's a way to show off what we are made of because our parents want us to be someone.

It's Ok

So while we cringe at taking off and not focusing on our own health, mental and physical, it's ok. It's ok to take a day off and use that PTO to mentally keep yourself grounded. It's ok to take a day off when the kids go back to school and just sleep to bring yourself back to life. It's ok to take a day of work when you are sick and overworked so you can heal physically. While many children of immigrants and their parents are stereotyped at having multiple jobs (I had 6 in college) it's ok to take a break. You earned that break because you are always someone your parents are proud of.