Care Is Our Strongest Resistance

I’ll be honest—I haven’t known what to say.

The start of this new year has felt heavier than expected. The level of chaos, fear, and uncertainty that has unfolded in just a short time is deeply unsettling. As of January 30, 2025, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders that significantly impact women, children, individuals with disabilities, and marginalized communities. It makes everything feel fragile—like all the progress, all the conversations, all the work we’ve poured ourselves into could be undone in an instant.

Lately, I’ve found myself wondering: Does talking about care—or fighting for it—even make sense right now? When the world feels this hostile, this indifferent, this actively working against the well-being of so many, care can feel like an afterthought. But deep down, I know—this is exactly when care matters most.

Care isn’t just about policies or programs. Care is survival. It is the foundation of stability, of resilience, of holding each other up when everything else feels like it’s falling apart. It’s what keeps families intact when economies crash. It’s what sustains communities when governments fail them. It’s what reminds us—when fear and anxiety try to break us—that we are still here, and we are still worthy.

I know it’s hard to hold onto that right now. The weight of it is suffocating. But the truth is, the fight for care has always been uphill. It has always required pushing back against systems that were never designed to value it. And yet, even in the hardest moments, care has persisted.

If anything, this is when we need to talk about care louder. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because if we don’t, the people in power will continue to erase it entirely.

That said, it’s okay to take a moment, to sit with the exhaustion, to acknowledge that this feels like too much. You and I don’t have to be on fire for the cause every single second. We don’t have to fight today if we don’t have the energy.

But when we’re ready—whether that’s tomorrow, next week, or next month—know that care is resistance. And the fact that you feel this deeply about it means you are exactly the kind of person who can push it forward, even in the hardest moments.

I’m rooting for us all. And I want to know—how are you feeling? How are you navigating this new year? What’s giving you strength, or what are you struggling with?

Hit reply. Let’s hold space for each other.

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The Care Gap is authored by Blessing Oyeleye Adesiyan, CEO + Founder of The Care Gap and Caring Africa, a Care Economist, Technologist, and Policy Expert, combining the power of storytelling, research, and advocacy to strengthen families, workplaces, and economies + advance the global care economy.