The Melanin Wellness Podcast: Holistic Health and Healing for Black Women’s Wellness · Cori Dunn

Reclaiming the Holiday: How to Boycott Burnout and Corporate Greed

·19 min

Kori opens by calling out corporate greed and the nonstop push to consume during the holidays. She says that pressure pulls attention away from the real harms shaping daily life. Those harms include stripped healthcare, frozen SNAP benefits, and ICE coming in and grabbing people off the street. She ties those conditions directly to anxiety, depression, and seasonal stress. The episode makes the case that mental health cannot be separated from the systems that wear people down. It treats action as a form of medicine. Kori welcomes listeners back and speaks in her usual direct, personal style. She says the holidays should be reclaimed, not handed over to corporate demands. She also pushes back on the idea that generosity only matters once a year. Her point is simple: care should not be seasonal. She asks listeners to think about the whole year, not just December. The episode also leaves room for grief and trauma. Kori notes that the holidays can bring those feelings to the surface. She speaks from lived experience when she says this season can be hard. Instead of pushing through, she recommends rest. She names crocheting, reading, sleeping, cooking, journaling, and working out as examples of what nourishment can look like. She treats those small practices as valid and meaningful. She also encourages people to rebuild boundaries while spending time with the people who matter most. The message is clear that joy does not have to cost money. It can come from intention, care, and refusal. The episode ends by urging listeners to define the season for themselves. It frames protecting well-being as an act of resistance and love.

As heard by us

A holiday reset that treats rest, boundaries, and refusal as acts of care.

The episode presents holiday burnout as more than personal fatigue, linking it to corporate greed, community strain, and the pressure to keep spending and moving.

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Why you'd press play

When holiday spending starts sounding like a demand, this gives you another way through.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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