Honoring MLK Day Through Care, Courage, and Community

Written by: Angelic Schmidt, LPC, Paths Align Counseling Contractor

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

I've been thinking a lot about Dr. King leading up to today. Not just the speeches we all know or the highlight reel version of his story. I'm thinking about the whole person. The one who understood that fighting for justice meant also fighting for the right to be human, to rest, to be whole.

Because here's the thing that doesn't get talked about enough…

Dr. King knew that sustaining a movement required more than just showing up angry or exhausted. It required people who weren't completely burnt out. It required community that actually held each other. It required REST.

Rest Is Not the Opposite of Resistance

As a Black woman, mother, and therapist here in Texas, I see what happens when we forget that part. I see it in my office every week. People running on fumes, carrying weight that was never theirs to hold, navigating expectations that leave no room for rest. Caregivers who've forgotten how to receive care. Parents trying to break cycles while barely keeping their heads above water. People from marginalized communities doing all of this while also navigating systems that weren't built for them.

So let me say this plainly, rest is not the opposite of resistance. Rest IS resistance.

When you choose to slow down in a culture that makes money off your burnout, that's radical. When you set a boundary in a space that's always demanded you make yourself smaller, that's revolutionary. Dr. King understood that. Caring for yourself isn't separate from caring about justice. It's part of it. It has to be.

Community Was Always the Point

Community was everything to Dr. King. He didn't do this work alone, and he never expected anyone else to either. That's something I think we've lost in our "self-care" conversations. Yes, rest matters. Yes, boundaries matter. But we also need each other.

Healing doesn't happen in isolation. It happens when we show up for ourselves and let other people show up for us too. Dr. King knew that justice work required connection, accountability, and people who could hold space for the messy, hard parts.

Your mental health is part of that. It's not extra. It's not something you get to after everything else is handled. For folks navigating oppression or moving through systems that weren't designed with them in mind, therapy becomes a way to reclaim what was taken and break cycles that don't need to continue.

Reflection for Today

As you move through today, sit with these questions:

Where are you being asked to show courage right now?
How are you caring for yourself while also caring about everything else?

Dr. King said the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. Part of bending that arc is doing our own healing work and showing up as whole people instead of running on empty.

That's how we honor what he built.

Take care of yourself today.