Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey Part 1
Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey Part 1
I have finally finished reading Rest is Resistance and I was not ready to tackle this read. It took me a while to finish this book not because it was bad or anything but because I do not read like I used to. I want to get back to reading a book a week but it is just not happening right now. Nevertheless, I am excited that I have finished it and get to share my thoughts with you to the point that I will do a Rest is Resistance series because there were so many good nuggets in this book.
I was expecting a cutesy little book about making sure you take a break and don’t work yourself too hard. I was not ready for what I got. If you are not prepared to really be confronted with the woes of capitalism, white supremacy racism, sexism, and all the bad isms then this is not the book for you. Hersey is in your face and does not hold any punches. The writing itself flows very nicely with a poetic feel. It is to be expected because Hersey is also a poet and that influence was apparent in the writing style. My only not-so-complaint is that at times the book was very repetitive. On one hand, it was bothersome, especially towards the end but, on the other hand, I felt that it was necessary because the content was confronting and challenging, and readers may have needed the concepts to be repeated several times over.
It gets a 7/10 for me. Most of the book resonated deeply with me. As a stress management advocate, I know we take rest for granted because we are trying to achieve and succeed in a society that wants to keep us trapped. I had many issues with the book as well because although I agreed with the problem identified, I had a hard time connecting with Hersey’s solutions. I understand that we need to rest but the how escaped me. I imagine it is because we are trained not to notice that we do not or cannot rest easily. I am part of the problem.
“All of our culture is collaborating for us not to rest. I understand this deeply, We are sleep-deprived because the systems view us as machines, but bodies are not machines. Our bodies are a site of liberation.” My issue is I am still battling with liberating my body and my mind from the training of this society in which we live.
Don’t get me wrong. Hersey gives examples of how we should unplug and these are not far from all the things I have discussed before when building your stress management tool kit. I feel she is more radical and her why is rooted in the realities of our society which some people do not want to confront. All these together make us more equipped to try and balance our lives so we do not remain as cogs that are simply part of the machine. Heresy maintains that “rest is radical” and it bothers me because it shouldn’t be. Rest should be normal and expected. But I completely understand even though I do not want it to be so. I understand because when I am resting, it is laden with guilt because I am thinking of everything not getting done because I chose to rest. However, if we do not give our bodies this mandatory form of self-preservation we will falter. It will demand it from us and we will suffer.
“Grind culture had made us all human machines, willing and ready to donate our lives to a capitalist system that thrives by placing profits over people.”
Ouch!
“You don’t belong on the grind. Get off the violent cycle. It is burning down because we torched it. Grind culture can’t have you.”
“Grind culture is a collaboration between white supremacy and capitalism. It views our divine bodies as machines.” This collaboration places our worth in what we can produce and what we can consume as opposed to us just being who we are.
“The time to rest is now”
On that note, the journal prompt for this post is where are you doing too much to climb up the ladder of capitalism? Where can you unwind the grind?
Lastly, I wanted to stay in this nonfiction mode and it was a perfect flow, so I think, into my next book selection: Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin.
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