Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

by Tricia Hersey

To truly grasp the heart of the messages, we will have to put down our phones and laptops and rest. We will have to take an intense look at the ways in which grind culture has traumatized us and then begin the lifelong process of healing from this trauma. This work is about more than simply naps and sleep, it is a full unraveling from the grips of our toxic understanding of our self-worth as divine human beings.

You are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn rest. Rest is not a luxury, a privilege, or a bonus we must wait for once we are burned out.

The idea of living in a world but not being part of it is a long-held tradition taught to me by my Ancestors. My grandparents and parents lived it daily and I grew up in Sunday School singing congregational songs with lyrics like: “This joy that I have / The world didn’t give it to me / The world didn’t give it / The world can’t take it away.” I am grateful for this politics of refusal and of listening to what we know to be true.

Grind culture is a collaboration between capitalism and white supremacy. Capitalism is from the plantation. Our current system of labor was made from this paradigm. Knowing this shifted me and must be acknowledged as part of our deprogramming process from grind culture.

We are resting simply because it is our divine right to do so. That is it!

I believe this work will not happen in the fake luxurious ways that we believe rest must happen. It will not happen away from our communities, held up in expensive hotels and retreat centers. If the message of rest is to be truly for all and a full-on decolonizing moment, it must be life-altering and within our own communities, homes, workspaces, religious institutions, academic spaces, and, most importantly, in our minds. I don’t believe we will get to freedom from grind culture by doing more of the same and aligning ourselves with any corporate wellness message that does not get to the root of the issue. To not illuminate the systems making us unwell is to bypass the heart and soul of justice work. To uplift rest from a community care ethic is to interrupt the dominant culture while giving the power back to the people where it belongs. Our rest praxis calls first for a mental shift that does not have an end date. We will be healing from our brainwashing from grind culture forever. We must be vigilant about the ways in which we will flow in and out of the grips of grind culture. There will be days when you will be pulled back into the system and will find yourself spinning, dizzy with the effects of hyperproductivity. The work is to first gain deep awareness that the pace at which this culture is functioning is not normal or sustainable. This understanding offers an invitation for the collective pilgrimage we are on as we attempt to disrupt and push back against a system ...

This work would not be possible without my deep study and love of Black Liberation theology. It has taught me from a very early age that God cares for me no matter my skin color, economic status, or ability. I learned as a young child from the Black Church that my Black body was not criminal and instead a deep reflection of God. Listening to my dad and other Black preachers holler a message of Black liberation from the pulpit shaped me and has allowed me to view white supremacy and capitalism as demonic forces that don’t deserve to rob me. I was taught that God was on the side of the oppressed and any theology that spread anything different was not a true Christianity.

I love the idea and concept of simply existing and just being for Black folks. The idea of “you gotta be better than those before you,” Black excellence, and the never-ending cycle to be an inspiration and “model” is tiring, unsustainable, and steeped in white supremacy, respectability politics, and wrecks our self-esteem as Black folks. What if we simply saw our birth and living and breathing and connection with ourselves and our families as enough? This deep knowing of our divinity without doing another thing. This is what I hope for so many of us. I give thanks to my father, my closest Ancestor, for showing me how to snatch moments of rest while living within a capitalist system.

Urgency is a myth that preys upon your fears about the future.

For Black people who are descendants of enslaved Africans via the Transatlantic Slave Trade and chattel slavery, consider the fact that your Ancestors built this entire nation for free with their stolen labor. Use this knowledge to tap into what they have already done, so you don’t have to grind yourself into oblivion now. Your Ancestors want to make space for your ease and rest. You must stop long enough to receive this insight in your dreams and downloads. I believe in the portal of resting; there are answers waiting for us there.

When you are exhausted, you lack clarity and the ability to see deeply. Your intuition and imagination are stifled by a culture of overworking and disconnection. You must be open to go deep into the cracks to examine and to understand. It may take years to fully crack open and it will be a lifetime of practice, care, and creativity.

If there is required reading for this Ministry, I would easily say it’s the book Slavery’s Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons by Sylviane A. Diouf.

There is a dream and vision space that is accessible during naps. When we don’t nap, we miss out on precious creative time to hope and imagine.