Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

by Tricia Hersey

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 ...