Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

by Tricia Hersey

Rest is radical because it disrupts the lie that we are not doing enough. It shouts: “No, that is a lie. I am enough. I am worthy now and always because I am here.”

We must slowly unravel daily to understand that our liberation, freedom, and everything we need is already within us. It doesn’t matter how much money we make, how much time we can get off work, and how many vacations we take. What matters is that in our hearts and souls we have decided to refuse and not wait until we have enough or have the perfect number of external things for our rest to be approved by the larger system.

Accept that there is no quick fix, magic bullet, or instant change.

You are enough now.

Understand exhaustion is not productive. You are not resting to gain energy to be more productive and to do more.

How many times have you attempted to connect with a friend or loved one but a brutal work schedule and a pull to hustle more have severed the connection, stolen your time together, or made it almost impossible to bond? How many parents are missing out on their children’s activities and memories because of the call of a sixty-hour workweek or multiple jobs? Grind culture harms the community by making it normal to work and go to bed exhausted and get up and work more. The urgent wheel of capitalism spins on unconcerned with those existing in it. Capitalism commodifies whatever it can and doesn’t allow space for us to experience the full spectrum of being human.