Reflection on Tricia Hersey’s Call to Rest

You’re not alone.

Everyone is exhausted.

As a working mother, never have I been so challenged to rest.

I have also been a professional tasked with promoting wellness for healthcare professionals. One thing I learned from that work is that we are burnt out on talking about burnout. The Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey might say this is because we engage too much “shallow wellness work that doesn’t speak about dismantling the systems that are making us unwell.”

We know the system is not only broken, but built to conspire against wellness (i.e., capitalism wants us to operate like machines). We feel powerless to change the system, so we focus on our individual role (e.g., more yoga, more meditation, etc., etc).

Our need for rest is left out of this conversation. The conversation centers around ways to be more productive.

Tricia Hersey’s manifesto to rest, Rest is Resistance published this year, offers solace to many of us when we have never needed it more. It is a call to action that seeps into one’s soul. I feel a sense of rest just in knowing that someone like her is here for us.

Hersey calls us to rest moment-to-moment in our everyday lives. For those of us who claim that we are simply too busy, she calls us to innovate our concept of rest. Be it looking out the window at nature on your commute, taking ten-minute naps, or breathing deeply in between tasks – whatever feels restful to you, do it. Rest can mean sleep. Or a nap. Or it can be active, done while walking. But Hersey reminds us, this is not just about naps.

Hersey delves into how important history is to her work. She discusses slave narratives and speculates that Harriet Tubman was able to pursue her freedom journey without being caught “because she paused, listened, and prayed.”

She also reminds us that grind culture is harmful to everyone.

As we approach the end of year, let Hersey guide us in the knowing that: “We connect with the deepest parts of ourselves when we are rested,” that living in “fear and urgency” leads us to being “zombie-like in Spirit and exhausted in body.”

As we approach the holiday season with many diversions to rest, let us innovate our rest.

Some ideas:

1. Buy the book Rest is Resistance. If you are reading this blog and made it this far, you will not

regret reading this book.

2. Engage in active rest. (Think: Low intensity activity like walking).

2. Find the beauty around you. Take a few minutes to ponder it.

3. Close your eyes for 10 minutes.

4. Daydream.

Most importantly – Get curious about what feels restful to you. Do more of it.

What rejuvenates you? What makes you feel drained? Do more of the first, less of the latter. Some restful things may not be what you expect. They may also take less time than you imagine.

Know also that “no one will give you rest” as Hersey says – “Experiment with nap rituals and rest habits that work for you. Craft your rest practice.”

Blog Written By: Heather Lee PhD, LCSW

References:

Hersey, T. Rest is resistance: A manifesto. ( 2022). Little, Brown Spark.