Rest isn't the reward for the work. Rest is what makes the work possible. It took watching my mom pass away young for me to finally understand that. She never got to enjoy the retirement she worked so hard for. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I told my therapist: "I just need to get through this week and then I can breathe." She said: "Zerlina, you have said that exact sentence to me every single week for 10 years." Read more over on Substack: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I told myself I'd rest after. After the election. After the campaign. After the next deadline. After inauguration day. I made that promise to myself for 18 years. There was always a next thing. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

Living abroad strips away the propaganda. Without it, the truth is plain: we aren't the best. Not for Black people. We were never great. Not for Black women. I carry that heaviness even as I build a softer life in a country that actually lets me rest. zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I’ve held tension in my body all week. The pull between rest + resistance. Between protecting your peace + a democracy that's never protected us. I’m tired. But I know my effort + engagement is needed. So is yours! Soft life and civic engagement are not incompatible. zerlinamaxwell.substack.com

Mental health and politics aren't separate topics. Everything I write is with full awareness of the moment we're living through. This isn't toxic positivity. It's a radical reframe of how to take care of yourself when the world is a dumpster fire: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

My grandfather + my 17-year-old aunt marched in Selma. They fought for the multiracial democracy promised by the Reconstruction Amendments. We are watching that same progress be erased in real time. And it hurts. Because it wasn't supposed to be this way. zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/mental-healt...

What are you willing to do to change your life? How far are you willing to go to improve your mental well being? These are the questions I had to ask myself everyday at my lowest point. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I watched my beloved mother die up close. It didn’t happen quickly. I watched her day in + day out become weaker, wither away. She always told me that I needed to enjoy the journey of life and not suffer. Read more about why I decided to move to Sicily: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I wanted to share with you the very first post in my Mental Health Mondays series from Feb 2025. This post about changing my life in the wake of my mom's death is still so raw to me. This is why I moved to Palermo. Read more about my soul care journey: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

They stopped asking if you're okay because you convinced them you always are. The strong friend trained the people around her not to check. Read more on Substack: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

This one is for the strong friend. The woman everyone leans on. The one who answers the texts, holds the family together, shows up at work, runs the group chat, and still ends most days wondering if she did enough. Visit zerlinamaxwell.substack.com to listen to this moving meditation.

My mother was sick for 4 years. The number of people who asked if I was okay? Less than five. The performance of strength is so convincing people forget there's a person underneath it. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I'm writing to the strong friend tonight. The one who answers at 11PM. Sends the Venmo. Writes the eulogy. Calms the room. Whose name is in everyone's prayers but not her own list. I know you because I am you. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

Distance didn’t erase my connection to America. It made me more aware of how deeply connected I still am. And here's a new perspective: the only way I can contribute to making this world better is if I am whole. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

To love America in the way I did required holding two truths at once: America is capable of beauty. But America is also capable of harm. And somehow you're supposed to live inside both those realities without breaking. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

There is a version of this story where I say I left America because of politics. That would be the clean and easy answer. The one that doesn’t require too much explaining. But the truth is more personal than that. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I live in Italy now, but I still feel the same anxiety about the U.S. starting another war of choice in the Middle East. When the news gets bad, I ask myself: Am I resourced enough to carry what I’m carrying? Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

When was the last time you gave yourself permission to just be in the middle of the chaos, without figuring anything out? Your first Inner Work Dispatch moving meditation is here, made specifically for this moment. Listen now: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/you-dont-h...

The world is heavy, but you still have a life to tend to. Holding these two truths is difficult, so you default to “coping” strategies that come with a cost. And you can't live your life only on cortisol and vibes. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

A question that feels impossible: “How’s your week going?” How do you answer that right now when you’re struggling to keep up with the fire hose of bad headlines while still showing up to your actual life? Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I'm 44 yrs old. It's a number that comes with reactions. Especially as a single woman who's never been married + doesn't have/want children. It gives people an opportunity to judge, even when they know nothing about me. Read more zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/im-44-and-...

I saw an IG reel the other day and this line struck me: The alternative for not aging is dying. Despite this truth, we're conditioned to fear getting older. If only we understood that it's a blessing, not a privilege. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/im-44-and-...

A lesson I learned after living in Sicily for a year: knowing Spanish didn’t help me learn Italian. It's a humbling lesson. I finally stopped believing learning Italian was going to be easy and became a beginner again. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/i-didnt-mo...

When I moved to Sicily, I thought I understood what I was in for. What I didn’t have was any real understanding of how much it would change me. A year later, I can tell you this: Sicily rewired the way I live my life. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/i-didnt-mo...

For some reason, there's a lot of articles about mental health challenges in America, but there aren’t enough spaces for journalists themselves to talk about how we're feeling as vessels for fact-based storytelling. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I built the kind of career people spend years trying to achieve. But something inside me started asking a question I couldn't ignore: What if this very visible, shiny version of success is not the life I actually want? Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/i-had-the-...

You’re probably following me right now because of my ability to get my point across to the masses. TV and American politics reward that. From the outside looking in, that performance looked like success. Read more on my Substack: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/i-had-the-...

I love talking about K-pop, especially with newbies. I realized I haven’t ever told the full story of how I fell down the K-pop rabbit hole in the first place. It happened during one of the hardest periods of my life. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/finding-br...

I’ve been a K-pop fan since 2020. The choreography, the visuals, the drama of it all. I love explaining the groups, the lore, the concerts. At 44 yrs old, when I talk about K-pop, I start to sound like I'm 13. It’s fun! Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/finding-br...

Looking back at my photos in a month is one of my favorite ways to see how I'm LIVING my life. I'm not surviving. I'm doing the damn thing. Check out my photos from February by visiting my Substack: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/photo-jour...

Survival mode is deceptive when you're high functioning. It looks like someone who is doing everything right. But surviving and designing aren't the same. Surviving is reacting to everything. Designing is intentional. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/from-survi...

I’m so good at achieving while exhausted. I used to pride myself on being articulate while my nervous system was raging. But life isn’t supposed to feel like a struggle. You're supposed to be enjoying the journey! Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/from-survi...

TODAY is the day! Author, speaker, and political organizer Shannon Watts will be joining me on Substack Live at 10:00AM EST. Head over to my Substack at zerlinamaxwell.substack.com to hear our conversation about taking action without burning out, you won't want to miss it!

Visibility scares me. I know it seems counterintuitive for a media personality like me. When you operate at your highest level, people notice. And with that comes judgment, criticism, expectations, hate, and pressure. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/the-gear-i...

Author, political organizer, speaker and founder of Moms Demand Action, Shannon Watts will be joining me on Substack Live on MON, MARCH 2nd at 10:00AM EST. We'll be chatting about encouraging women to be more active in politics without burning out. Follow along at zerlinamaxwell.substack.com

One thing I know about myself is that when I am productive, even if it’s doing tasks that don’t really matter, I feel accomplished. There are days where I do nothing and then if I work out, I feel like a million bucks. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/the-gear-i...

"You're allowed to cultivate joy. In fact, you need to because our job is to build the world that we want. And if we don't allow ourselves to... be happy, then we're not reminding ourselves of why we’re doing any of this. We can't be joyless people." -AOC zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/mental-hea...

I’m making progress toward my goals. I’m doing the things I need to do to stay regulated and pointed in the right direction. Even this foundation for greatness is something to be proud of because it took years to build. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/the-gear-i...

There was a time when just getting the basics right felt impossible. I’m in a different place now, fully present in my life again. But I know there’s another gear. I know I have it in me but something is holding me back. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/the-gear-i...

How has living so much of our lives online changed who we are at our core? That question has been living in my body for years now, especially after working in politics, media, and the news cycle. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/why-you-ne...

I’ve been thinking a lot about who we're becoming in this digital age, not just politically divided, but also the impact on all of us psychologically, spiritually, and relationally. It's personal for me. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/why-you-ne...

Sign up for our free workshop today at noon ET luma.com/c0i4dfm5

Curious about moving out of the United States? I’m so excited to tell you that Kirsten Powers and I are hosting a workshop on exactly this topic. Join us Tuesday, Feb. 10th for a 90 minute conversation on how we moved abroad, with plenty of time for Q&A. Sign up to join us here: luma.com/c0i4dfm5

If watching the news feels too heavy right now, I see you. I get it. That reaction makes complete sense. What I'm trying to learn right now is how to live my life in a world that has never actually known peace. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

You’re not avoiding the news because you don’t care. It’s because you feel depleted by it. The problem is that you are being asked to metabolize nonstop crises without relief, resolution, or rest. That isn’t healthy. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

When I’m not working, I rest. I create space for quiet and joy. Not because I don’t care about what’s happening, but because I care too much. Self-care isn't a distraction from activism. It's what makes activism possible. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/learning-h...

I left the U.S. in Feb 2025 because I could feel what was coming. Being across the ocean allows for clarity in seeing how dangerous this moment is for the future of American democracy and global stability. I can see the emergency very clearly. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/learning-h...

I cannot afford to live in a constant state of depletion. If I don’t seek out joy, I will burn out. This is something I understand now in a way I didn’t before: joy doesn’t just happen anymore. You have to intentionally choose it. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/theres-a-b...

A year ago, I noticed something outside my apartment balcony. There’s a boat docked there. On the side of it, in big letters, is the word JOY. It felt like a clear sign for me to remember why I’m even on this planet. Read more: zerlinamaxwell.substack.com/p/theres-a-b...