Rest Is Resistance Quotes

“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.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Loving ourselves and each other deepens our disruption of the dominant systems. 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.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“The Rest Is Resistance framework also does not believe in the toxic idea that we are resting to recharge and rejuvenate so we can be prepared to give more output to capitalism. What we have internalized as productivity has been informed by a capitalist, ableist, patriarchal system. 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.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Treating each other and ourselves with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to thrive. Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“We must believe we are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn it. It is our birthright. It is one of our most ancient and primal needs.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Productivity should not look like exhaustion. The concept of laziness is a tool of the oppressor. A large part of your unraveling from capitalism will include becoming less attached to the idea of productivity and more committed to the idea of rest as a portal to just be.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Release the shame you feel when resting. It does not belong to you.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“We are socialized into systems that cause us to conform and believe our worth is connected to how much we can produce. Our constant labor becomes a prison that allows us to be disembodied. We become easy for the systems to manipulate, disconnected from our power as divine beings and hopeless. We forget how to dream. This is how grind culture continues. We internalize the lies and in turn become agents of an unsustainable way of living.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Marginalized women, specifically Black and Latina women, make up the largest group of laborers in a capitalist system. Our labor historically has been used to make the lives of white women less hectic and more relaxed.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Grind culture is violence and violence creates trauma. We have been traumatized deeply.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“…when you slowly begin to believe and understand your inherent worth, rest becomes possible in many ways.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“When I take a digital Sabbath away from social media, I come back feeling smarter, less anxious, and tapped into an expansive energy I was unable to access while scrolling every day.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Take up space. Be risky in your observations. Be a maroon. Decide you ain’t ever going back to enslavement. Take a nap to receive a Word from your Ancestors. Be subversive. Embrace radical love that is outside the confines of tradition. Be suspicious of everything they taught you. Carry a research notebook. Be curious. Resist. Rest.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Capitalism was created on plantations. The roots of it are violence and theft.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Nothing we accomplish in life is totally free of the influence of spirit and community. We do nothing alone.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“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.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“It can be easier to believe resting is simply about retiring to your bed when you are tired instead of beginning the messy process of deconstructing your own beliefs and behaviors that are aligned with white supremacy and capitalism. You must be committed to studying how training under the abusive teachings of dominant culture has you bound and limited. This is healing work. This is justice work. When we are aligned against the ideas of the oppressive culture, we understand we didn’t arrive on Earth to be a tool for a capitalist system.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“I want us to understand that nuance is freeing and freedom. There is no such thing as cookie-cutter healing. Everyone brings with them an origin story, a history, and identities that are interconnected. There is room to rest in the freedom of managing your own deprogramming journey. It is never either/or and always both/and. You don’t have to grind, hustle, accept burnout as normal, and be in a constant state of exhaustion and sleep deprivation. You don’t have to kill yourself spiritually or physically to live a fruitful life.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“We are more powerful than we believe.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“You are not unworthy. The systems are unworthy.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Your body is a site of liberation. It doesn’t belong to capitalism. Love your body. Rest your body. Move your body. Hold your body.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“I feel like a legacy of exhaustion resides somewhere in all of us, but specifically resides in the bodies of those who have melanated skin.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Grieving the reality of being manipulated to believe we are not enough, divine, or valuable outside of our accomplishments and bank account is a central part of our rest work.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Along with stealing your imagination and time, grind culture has stolen the ability for pleasure, hobbies, leisure, and experimentation. We are caught up in a never-ending cycle of going and doing.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“One day I hope we can all deprogram from the lie that rest, silence, and pausing is a luxury and privilege. It is not! The systems manipulated you to believe it is true. The systems have been lying and guiding us all blindly to urgent and unsustainable fantasies. We have replaced our inherent self-esteem with toxic productivity.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“You don’t have to always be creating, doing, and contributing to the world.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“The very act of trying to look ahead to discern possibilities is an act of hope.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“You must resist anything that doesn’t center your divinity as a human being. You are worthy of care.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Do not let your lack of money and possessions make you feel negative about your worth as a human being. Do not let your credit score, man-made poverty, and/or racism define your extreme power.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“Imagination is one of the most powerful modes of resistance that oppressed and exploited folks can do and use. —bell hooks”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto