Name: Laura Mei's review of Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Item: Rest Is Resistance
Rating: 4
Author: Laura Mei

Tricia Hersey

Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice. What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace –– feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit. In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us. Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.

A Manifesto

Rest Is Resistance

Laura Mei

Our souls are our center. An invisible, clear quiet force that is required for living. It knows the way. So, when we are not caring for our souls or even acknowledging that we have one, we are not able to possess the inner knowing we are born with. Rest is soul care because rest deliberately pays close attention to the deepest parts of you. Rest places soul care at the center of our wellness and liberation. None of us will get free without resisting toxic systems that blind us to the truth of who and what we are. Our bodies have information to share with us. Our souls are foundational to and to our resistance journey toward rest. We ignore our bodies' need to rest and in doing so, we lose touch with Spirit. The soul, while being foundational to how we navigate life, has also been a mystery to theologians and religious leaders throughout history. Many have claimed that the soul is the center of who we are and the most beautiful and powerful part of your body. What is your soul saying? Have you had moments of observing the pace of your life and it didn't feel true to your soul?

Our ability to dream, pause, and daydream has been replaced with the robbing of time, self-worth, self-esteem, hope, and connection to ourselves and eachother. Rest is a moment of embodiment and a time when connections can be created. We connect with the deepest parts of ourselves when we are rested. This is also a moment of intimacy and vulnerability. As we prepare ourselves to deal with the harshness of everyday living, rest becomes a space of physical and spiritual softness. An antidote to the hidden rage present in an exhausted body. Rest is a protest. Rest is a beautiful interruption in a world without a pause button.

Resting our bodies and minds is a form of reverence. When we honor our bodies via rest, we are connecting to the deepest parts of ourselves. We are freedom-making. What stories are we holding deep inside that are untold and uncovered because we are too exhausted? This rest work is holding space for our memories, our microhistories, and all the things that make us human.

Lay and rest in these questions. 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. There is space for the unknown. There is space for curiosity and mystery. There is space to just allow rest to settle and answer the questions for us.

Rest is a meticulous love practice. Rest is radical because it disrupts the lie that we are not doing enough. It shouts: "No, that is a lie. I am enough. I am worthy now and always because I am here." We are enough. We are divine. Our bodies don't belong to these toxic systems. We know better. Our spirits know better.

Our worth is not connected to how much we produce. Another way is possible. Our shared history is one of extreme disconnection and denial. We ignore our bodies' need to rest and in doing so, we lose touch with Spirit. Our bodies are a tool agent for change. A site of liberation. Our bodies know. The time to rest is now.

Laura Hilliger &
Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

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Laura Hilliger &Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

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Laura Hilliger &
Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey