Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

by Tricia Hersey

was guided by Harriet Tubman, proclaiming after waking up from a prophetic dream: “My people are free.” The audacity to proclaim freedom via rest in the now. Rest has been revolutionary for my soul.

This book is a testimony and testament of my refusal to donate my body to a system that still owes a debt to my Ancestors for the theft of their labor and DreamSpace. I refuse to push my body to the brink of exhaustion and destruction. Let the chips fall where they may. I trust myself more than capitalism. Our refusal will make space for abundance. We will have to leap and trust rest.

The reality of our survival from white supremacy and capitalism is deeply shocking to me. I am in awe at what our bodies can hold. We must lighten our loads.

Survival is not the end goal for liberation. We must thrive. We must rest.

Whenever I would inquire if she was sleeping, her response was always the same: “Every shut eye ain’t sleep. I am resting my eyes and listening for what God wants to tell me.”

I believe rest, sleep, naps, daydreaming, and slowing down can help us all wake up to see the truth of ourselves.

Rest is a healing portal to our deepest selves. Rest is care. Rest is radical.

Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy. Both these toxic systems refuse to see the inherent divinity in human beings and have used bodies as a tool for production, evil, and destruction for centuries.

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.”

I wish you rest today. I wish you a deep knowing that exhaustion is not a normal way of living. You are enough. You can rest. You must resist anything that doesn’t center your divinity as a human being. You are worthy of care.

The systems have manipulated and socialized us so that we stay exhausted. We can remain stuck in a never-ending cycle of trauma. If we are not tapped into the truth of our divinity, there is the possibility of continued brainwashing.

Capitalism was created on plantations. The roots of it are violence and theft. We as a culture gloss over this historical truth. But, to dive into the cracks of this reality is where a profound part of your deprogramming from grind culture resides.

The possibilities are infinite, although living under a capitalist system is to be confronted with a model of scarcity.

To be colonized is to accept and buy into the lie of our worth being connected to how much we get done. Keep repeating to yourself: I am enough now.

All of culture is working in collaboration for us not to rest, and when we do listen to our bodies and take rest, many feel extreme guilt and shame.