Keke Palmer says she’s learning how to rest and relax after ‘many seasons sacrificing’
Keke Palmer says she’s working to rest while pregnant with her first child. (Photo: David M. Bennett/Dave Bennett/WireImage)
Keke Palmer is making rest a top priority in 2023.
The Nope star, 29, took to Instagram on Tuesday to share photos from her little month at the beach, along with a caption about trying to relax, even when it doesn’t come naturally.
“I’m really proud of myself for taking this trip off,” the Nickelodeon alum wrote. “I’m a freak by nature. I like to have a schedule, even on vacation. I’ve learned to at least plan things out, so I have something to finish, which is on-brand with the theme of the season. Which is vacation.”
She joked that she wouldn’t call this time off part of a “soft girl life” — a phrase coined by social media to make choices that minimize stress and prioritize mental health, which many black women are embracing – but said rest was just as important to him as hard work.
“I’ve spent a lot of seasons sacrificing and I’m very good at that, I learned that from my dad,” Palmer continued. “From both my parents, but my dad takes the cake. I want to be just like him. His life is full and he’s given so much. I don’t think giving or sacrificing are bad things, it’s who I am and that will never change, but every season we aim to embrace something new.”
Palmer shared that she will learn how to “really take it easy,” noting that “it doesn’t mean that my desire and passion is going to end, it’s just transformed and developed through a different medium.”
“The point is. everything to come is already in motion,” she wrote. “All I have to do is enjoy myself. Be grateful and reap the benefits of those who came before me, all the sacrifices, all the prayers and all the power to be purposeful and calm.”
Palmer’s Hollywood peers applauded her message. Her Joyful Noise co-star Queen Latifah wrote: “Yes Keke. So happy for you and your family and pay the price for being the boss! And the boss needs to take a day off.” Sherri Shepherd added, “Embrace rest because when baby is here – the word ‘rest’ goes out the window! Welcome to motherhood!”
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Palmer previously spoke about her work ethic in an August interview with Women’s Health. From the beginning of her career as a child star, she told the media that it was common for her to work herself “to the point of exhaustion” and that she “became used to rushing too much”.
“I realized that it’s hard to say no because we don’t have faith. We don’t believe that if we say no, the opportunity will come again,” she told the magazine. “Or we don’t believe that if we say no, we’ve made the right choice. Or we’re afraid that if we say no, we’ll offend someone. But I found that saying yes to a lot of things was stressful. I’ve learned not to be afraid to rearrange things and accept that I won’t be able to do them all without hurting myself.”
She has learned that it is important to say no to things, as not doing so would be a “dishonor” to herself.
“It’s been two years since I started this whole ‘saying no’ thing, and I have to say I’m getting pretty good at it now,” she said. “That’s the silver lining. Everything I’ve been through has taught me how to love myself more.”
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