Rest is Resistance

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Rest

A black family - dad and two kids - lie on a bed with their heads together, smiling up at the camera.
Picture by Ketut Subiyanto.

I first encountered The Nap Ministry sometime around 2018. As an overtaxed mother, wife, and worker Tricia Hersey’s message of ‘Rest is Resistance’ resonated deeply with me. When Hersey’s book of the same name, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, was released I knew I had to read it for this sabbatical. Here are some of the key quotes and questions I took from my reading…

Quotes

  • Survival is not the end goal for liberation. We must thrive we must rest. p. 5
  • Our bodies are a site of liberation. p. 7
  • Grind culture is a collaboration between white supremacy and capitalism. p. 24
  • If we are not tapped into the truth of our divinity, there is the possibility of continued brainwashing. p. 15
  • Nothing we accomplish in life is totally free of the influence of spirit and community. We do nothing alone. p. 18
  • The removal of physical education, recess, and nap time from public schools is more evidence of a culture unconcerned with space, connection, and slowing down. This ongoing socialization and manipulation by the systems then become internalized and we become agents of grind culture. p. 23
  • You are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn rest… the more we think of rest as a luxury, the more we buy into the systemic lies of grind culture. p. 28
  • Where spirit is, healing can happen. p. 33
  • We don’t have to have a complete answer to everything right now. We don’t have to know everything. We don’t have to be everything. We don’t have to do everything. p. 59
  • Stay in the space of knowing that you are not a failure, inadequate or unworthy because you are tired and want to rest. p. 67
  • When we don’t take our own rest while holding space for others around us to rest, we are functioning like the systems we want to gain freedom from. p. 76
  • There is no system in our culture that supports and makes space for us to rest. p. 94
  • Rest is somatic work – connecting your body and mind. p. 120
  • 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. p. 122
  • Rest is not a state of inactivity or waste of time. Rest is a generative state. p. 153
  • You have permission to experiment. p. 173
  • Rest on a somatic level is a small resurrection. p. 182
  • We imagine by being in community. We imagine by receiving and offering radical care. We imagine by embracing and running toward our interconnectedness. p. 188

Questions

  • Do you know you are divine? Do the people around you know they are divine? How does Unitarian Universalism convince people of their inherent worth and divinity when so many of our members were raised Christian, whose doctrine of original sin is in direct opposition to this belief?
  • What would church look like if we centered space, connection, and slowing down? What would your life look like if church centered rest?
  • What damage are we inflicting on our children when we don’t give them or their caregivers space and time to rest, when we overschedule and overdemand? Much has been said recently about Gen Alpha and the failings of Millennial parents. But, what if Millennial parents aren’t failing? What if we are just struggling to survive in a system designed for urgency and disconnection?
  • How have you internalized grind culture? When was the last time you rested? Gave yourself permission to experiment? When was the last time you gave and received radical care from your communities?
  • What does rest look like to you? When will you rest next?

That’s all for this month. Join me in August as I share my wonderings from Sonya Renee Taylor’s book The Body is Not An Apology (my second favorite Sabbatical read). Until then, rest.