Book Review: Rest is Resistance

Post Author: Rev. Merianna Harrelson

Tricia Hersey didn’t discover rest as resistance when she had the time or the money to rest. She began resting as resistance in the midst of one of the busiest times in her own life while she was a seminarian and a single working mom. This she says is what we must all do in order to counter the impact and influence of capitalism on our bodies and souls. Hersey’s Rest is Resistance* is a powerful recounting of her story as a black working mom to bring rest not only to her own life, but to the lineage of ancestors who were forced to labor as enslaved people and then as people enslaved to grind culture of capitalism. 

This manifesto explains that in order to begin this resistance, we must first see our bodies differently than our capitalistic culture does. We are not mere machines, only worthy by the amount we produce or do. She says: “We must see our bodies as a miracle, and a place of reverence here existing in exhaustion is not normal or acceptable. The beauty of resting knows that we are blessed to have a body, to be chosen to be alive, to breathe, to make choices, and to proclaim that our bodies are our own, is a deep practice of care.” As we see our bodies in this new way, then we can begin to ignite our souls again. Once our souls are ignited, we can begin to dream and create and to imagine again. 

The grind or hustle culture is one that we are all inundated by. Social media streams advertise ways to create your side hustle. The American Dream lies to us about pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps even with the inequities that exist in our economic structure. For those of us who are young women or who are black, Indigenous, or people of color in ministry or really any professional arena, we might feel pressure to work harder to prove ourselves worthy of being in positions of authority or to be seen as successful. All of these influences work together to create the belief that rest should be earned or should be a reward for hard work. 

Hersey offers a different perspective: “I believe the powers that be don’t want us rested because they know if we rest enough, we are going to figure out what is really happening and overturn the entire system. Exhaustion keeps us numb, keeps us zombie-like, and keeps us on their clock.” The grind culture is intentional to benefit those who already benefit from capitalism while wearing out the rest of us. 

The Manifesto came from a collective napping experience that Hersey began while she was still in seminary. She wanted to create sanctuary for people to truly rest. She thought it would be for just a few people who were interested in the idea of rest as resistance, but this collective napping experience turned into a movement that has led to an online community called The Nap Ministry. To date, the Nap Ministry has 544,000 followers on Instagram, so many that the Hersey is invited to create a collective napping ministry and speak about rest as resistance across the country. 

Even she is not immune to the pressure to value work over rest. She explains in her book that when she took her sabbatical from this ministry, she repeatedly received requests to take just one interview or do just this one speaking engagement even though the people requesting this work knew she was on sabbatical.

Hersey’s work is creating conversations that are so important to how we show up in the world. Her work is developing a new way of talking about our worth as embodied people that is not related to our work, our professions, or our production. She is changing the way we think about what it means to be valuable in the world. Her work is inviting us all to a deeper way of thinking and existing; a way that is closer to the divine breath that resides within each and every one of us. 

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