Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

by Tricia Hersey

Rest is radical because it disrupts the lie that we are not doing enough.

What stories are we holding deep inside that are untold and uncovered because we are too exhausted?

A grieving person is a healed person.

I believe the powers that be don’t want us rested because they know that if we rest enough, we are going to figure out what is really happening and overturn the entire system. Exhaustion keeps us numb, keeps us zombie-like, and keeps us on their clock.

America is not a welcoming place to all bodies. America was built on the backs of Black and Indigenous people who labored without rest for centuries as the country built its economic power.

We don’t have to have a complete answer to everything right now. We don’t have to know everything. We don’t have to be everything. We don’t have to do everything. There is space for the unknown. There is space for curiosity and mystery. There is space to just allow rest to settle and answer the questions for us.

Our drive and obsession to always be in a state of “productivity” leads us to the path of exhaustion, guilt, and shame. We falsely believe we are not doing enough and that we must always be guiding our lives toward more labor. The distinction that must be repeated as many times as necessary is this: We are not resting to be productive. We are resting simply because it is our divine right to do so. That

There is no Rest Is Resistance movement without Blackness. Anyone attempting to create and expand on our rest message must reach deep into the cracks to study and uplift Black liberation. It is the North Star for an exhausted world. Anyone co-opting our message without crediting our work and the scholarship of Black people are caught up deeply in the grips of grind culture, and could not possibly be embodying rest.

The body has information. The trauma response is to keep going and to never stop. Grinding keeps us in a cycle of trauma; rest disturbs and disrupts this cycle.

Some places to begin: Detox from social media weekly, monthly, or more. Begin to heal the individual trauma you have experienced that makes it difficult for you to say no and maintain healthy boundaries. Start a daily practice in daydreaming. Accept that there is no quick fix, magic bullet, or instant change. Slowly accept you have been brainwashed. Your socialization in a capitalist culture makes this true. Begin to deprogram by accepting this truth. Slow down. You are enough now. If you have to repeat this to yourself every day, do so. Begin to repair the way white supremacy and capitalism have wrecked your self-esteem and self-worth. Understand exhaustion is not productive. You are not resting to gain energy to be more productive and to do more. Listen more. Create systems of community care.

Rest must be practiced daily until it becomes our foundation.

Resting can look like: Closing your eyes for ten minutes. A longer shower in silence. Meditating on the couch for twenty minutes. Daydreaming by staring out of a window. Sipping warm tea before bed in the dark. Slow dancing with yourself to slow music. Experiencing a Sound Bath or other sound healing. A Sun Salutation. A twenty-minute timed nap. Praying. Crafting a small altar for your home. A long, warm bath. Taking regular breaks from social media. Not immediately responding to texts and emails. Deep listening to a full music album. A meditative walk in nature. Knitting, crocheting, sewing, and quilting. Playing a musical instrument. Deep eye contact. Laughing intensely.

Poetry makes sense of meaning and allows us to put things back together that have been torn apart.

The more we rest, the more we will wake up.

The stress, anxiety, overloaded curriculum, and pressure we normalize in public schools and higher education are toxic and dangerous for everyone involved, but particularly toxic for young children and young adults who are still developing a sense of self. They are exposed to the lie that their worth is determined by how much they can accomplish constantly and it’s reaffirmed and rewarded when they push their bodies to the limit to do well in classes.

They want us unwell, fearful, exhausted, and without deep self-love because you are easier to manipulate when you are distracted by what is not real or true.

You were not just born to center your entire existence on work and labor. You were born to heal, to grow, to be of service to yourself and community, to practice, to experiment, to create, to have space, to dream, and to connect.

The idea of resistance is central to the message of rest and to our life as human beings.

Resistance is a rich, spiritual posture. It opens the possibility for reinvention and connection. To know that we are divine and cared for can allow us to refuse the lies of any oppressive system.

The time to rest and resist is now. We cannot afford to wait for the powers that be to create space for us to have moments of deep rest and care. If we wait, we will forever be caught up in the daily grind. To resist now means we will have to decide on rest as a reimagined way of life.

The connection to your body is a spiritual experience. I have never felt closer to the Creator than when I am completely lost and found in the creative process of embodied art making.

Productivity should not look like exhaustion. The concept of laziness is a tool of the oppressor.

Detox from social media and phones regularly. This will take planning and consideration because the addiction to both is real on many levels. When I begin the process, I take all the social media apps off my phone. I also plan for open time that will emerge when I am not spending hours a day scrolling. It must be replaced with intentional rest, opportunities to connect, moments of studying, journaling, and daydreaming. You will be pulled back to your phones in a way that feels habitual and unstoppable. This is part of the process. Start with a plan of detoxing for a day and then move up from there.

we cannot wait until we are told it’s okay to rest. No one will tell you this. You will have to make space for yourself and others around you to rest. Resting is not a state of inactivity or a waste of time. Rest is a generative space. When you are resting your body, it is in its most connected state.

My Sabbath is a personal, spiritual, and political practice. I stop to declare that there is enough, and I have done enough. How would we navigate our lives if we believed deeply that there is enough?

Our entire culture is addicted to social media and technology. This is leading us down the path to exhaustion. If you are not very intentional about detoxing regularly from it, I believe deep and connected rest will be impossible.

Truly practicing rest is a battle and liberation practice. No one wants you to deeply rest, because most people have never had the opportunity to practice it consistently, so there is no model for how to embody it.

For me, my Sabbath is not a sabbatical because the latter assumes that it is granted by an outside entity for me to study, travel, write, or create. Creating a Sabbath is an opportunity for intense imagination work and collaboration with Spirit. We have the ability to imagine a Sabbath that is unique to us and only us.

I watched the Holy Spirit show up in the Pentecostal denomination and as a result I am very comfortable with embodiment and the idea of trusting deeply what is happening behind the scenes. Things eyes and ears can’t see and hear.

Your body has important information to share with you but it can only arrive to you in a rested state. What if you are missing so much of who you are because you are navigating life from a state of exhaustion?

Communal care is our saving grace and our communion. Community care will save us. It is already saving us.