Rest is Resistance.

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Rest is Resistance.

Every morning, I wake up and curse at the mirror. F------…what is this?
It’s 5 in the morning and some people are already at work.

My life is a little easier. I get up and I don’t have to be there until 6:30. I do my work and I leave and after a daily detox that culminates in a nap, I am free…

I work a job where the grind is real. Everyone is always grinding…doubles, triples, working your day off, working holidays, etc.…

I used to be like that…not to that extreme, but I would work my day off. I would pick up shifts, sign the book and do continuous service. Part of it seemed necessary, part of it was just because I was trying to pay off a credit card debt that had followed me since my early 20’s.

But it was a grind. I’d sleep for 4 hours and consider it a good sleep. And something about the grind...spending 20 hours a day for that money…just tore away at me. I fantasized about what it would be like to just work 8 hours and go home. All my worst days would be the days I was there for an extra shift.

Then one day in 2016 we got a new contract and a bonus that everyone was pissed about…it wasn’t enough. It was a slap in the face…

But I took that money, put it in a special account that I would use for covering expenses beyond my normal pay…

And I decided now was the time to stop the grind.

And now I nap every day…

And I’m happier.
For me, it is not revolutionary; it is something I take for granted. I have the time and I have the support.

But that is my privilege.
And that is the perspective of the book. That rest has been stolen from those in the margins. That exhaustion keeps people from the revolution. That Capitalism is inherently exploitative, built on the backs of slavery and genocide.

‘Rest is Resistance.’ Exhaustion is keeping us from seeing our divinity.
‘Grind culture is violence and violence creates trauma.'
‘We will rest. We will rest. We will rest…’

It is a call for the thing that people need the most.

I picked this up because I follow The Nap Ministry on Twitter.

In many ways Rest is Resistance could be my sign that I am on the right path, albeit via a different way. I cannot claim to identify with the perspective of any group other than my own. But I nod my head at words that call out capitalism as a brutal system that doesn’t care about your well-being.
This is a manifesto. It will be repetitive. It doesn’t always make for the best reading. It might not make for a great book to read for pleasure. You might not even agree with everything. Or you might not be ready for it.

But if you are, then proceed. It will get you thinking and questioning why we feel the need to push ourselves and our bodies past the point of exhaustion.





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