Grind, hustle, be productive, work-work-work...
As humans living in the western world, especially the capitalistic culture of the US, these words could be written on our tombstones. We are programmed to work hard, to have extra jobs, to feel guilty for sitting or taking time to rest, even if we are sick. Of course, some of us need extra jobs to provide for ourselves and our families, but that is at times praised and lauded. At times it is also villainized for not spending more time with our children. What a double-bind, a rock and a hard place.
But I digress, we are talking about rest.
Tricia Hersey believes so deeply in the power of rest as resistance, as revolution, she formed The Nap Ministry to examine the liberating power of taking naps. Much like adrienne maree brown's pleasure activism, Hersey practices (and encourages the practice of) rest to lean into the idea that we as humans are already enough and do not need to adhere to capitalistic, white supremacy notions about how we "earn" our rights to exist.
In an interview with NPR, Hersey states the four tenets of The Nap Ministry:
1: Rest is a form of resistance because it pushes back and disrupts white supremacy and capitalism. 2: Our bodies are a site of liberation. And that brings into the somatics the idea that wherever our bodies are, we can find rest. 3: Naps provide a portal to imagine, invent and heal. 4: Our dream space has been stolen, and we want it back. We will reclaim it via rest.
Hersey goes on to say:
This is about more than naps....It's a paradigm shift. It's mind-altering. It's culture-shifting. It's a full-on politics of refusal. We have been brainwashed by this system to believe these things about rest, about our bodies, about our worth, this violent culture that wants to see us working 24 hours a day, that doesn't view us as a human being but instead views our divine bodies as a machine.
And so when I think about the first tenet and this idea of disrupting and pushing back, for me, when we are on - in a system that we're on that's under capitalism that doesn't look at people as people - they look at profit. White supremacy - they don't see the divinity in all of us. And so these two systems working in collaboration, we can push back against them. But even if we're off the clock and saying no intentionally for 10 minutes, our insistence on being like, not today, you can't have me for these 30 minutes, this little, small disruption
One of the most interesting shifts for me began in the first covid lockdown. I was allowed space to rest, to take time to sleep with the removal of expectations of going to work or doing tasks outside of work. I know I am privileged to not be a front-line worker and that I was able to take advantage of this time. AND we all deserve that privilege of rest. As a form of resistance and self care, how will you reframe rest as revolution?
Full interview with Tricia Hersey: How to think about rest as a form of resistance.
Hersey's books and card deck: Rest as Resistance, We Will Rest!, Rest Deck
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