Lea Landaverde

There’s two economic realities happening in the U.S. 🫠🤯

Lately I’ve been unlearning the idea that rest has to be earned.

That peace is something “extra.”
That slowing down is selfish.

My mom calls this “la vida de rica.”
I’m realizing… she’s right.

This is the life my ancestors prayed for.

And I’m learning how to live it without apology.

Chapter Two: In Rest 🤍

Lately, I’ve been sitting with this feeling that I’m somehow betraying the dreams of my ancestors.

That rest is a privilege.
That freedom isn’t guaranteed.
That joy feels complicated in a world where so many of my people are still fighting to survive.

We live in a country founded on “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and yet so many of us are taught, directly or indirectly, that those things are conditional.

So why do I feel guilty for living the life my ancestors prayed for me to have?

Why does choosing softness sometimes feel like abandonment?

Should I carry the pain of my community everywhere I go?
Should I weigh myself down with fear and urgency at all times?

Or am I allowed to step into the sun, into the ocean, into peace, and breathe?

I’m realizing maybe it’s both.

I can be deeply grateful and deeply scared.
Aware and still present.
Rooted in my community and still protective of my own joy.

Rest is not betrayal.
Peace is not complacency.
Living fully is not forgetting.

It is honoring.