Rest as Resistance
When you think of protesting, of allyship, of activism – what do you picture? Maybe it’s people making signs and marching in the streets, maybe it’s folks organizing events or sit-ins, maybe it’s fundraisers and phone chains, or activist influencers known for their fierce advocacy. While all of these efforts are impactful ways to affect change, there are other ways you can join the resistance, too.
For many of us, rest can feel like a limited resource. Under capitalism, rest is something we are told is earned – a scarce resource that must be traded for exhaustion. We are told that if we work hard enough, our reward of being permitted to pass out in bed will be granted. That if we suffer enough, we will have earned our right to enjoy ourselves, but this is not how nature intends for us to exist. This obsession with productivity and the demonization of “unearned” rest is unbridled capitalism and white supremacy in action.
Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks for generations have known the importance and power of rest – of honoring and listening to our bodies, and the power and autonomy that awareness grants us over our bodies and our time. When we know what our bodies need and are able to honor those needs, we become more able to advocate for ourselves, and thus harder to control and less beneficial to capitalism.
When you begin to deconstruct your views around rest, you pull on a thread in a finely woven sweater, stitched together by productivity and capitalism – one we are given at a young age in Western society, and told to wear, no questions asked. As you pull on the thread, you may begin to wonder why you are working more than you are playing, why you have given up on dreams long forgotten, why you can’t remember the last time you took a vacation without reading your work emails, why you are fatigued and exhausted but can’t seem to fall asleep at night. When you begin to ask these questions, you begin to deconstruct your world view and suddenly the sweater has returned to a pile of yarn – ready for you to knit a better fit, something custom. Rest is our birthright, but we are told from a young age that it is a privilege. Capitalism turns natural order on its head and begins to treat humans like machines – only superficially oiling them when they squeak too loudly or dispose of them when they slow down the money-making process. By resting – slowly, deeply, luxuriously, without guilt or explanation – you are reclaiming what is rightfully yours, your time and energy.
Sometimes, even when we do “rest” we are simply panicking while sitting still. Confusing doomscrolling in a frozen state for actual, meaningful decompression and recharging. Our minds have become so accustomed to running as fast and hard as they can at all times that when we finally stop, they keep going on without us. So, rather than experiencing legitimate rest, we simply become frozen. And then we feel guilty for being neither productive nor feeling truly rested.
For disabled and chronically ill folks, it can be even harder to rest. You can feel even less entitled to resting, because maybe you already don’t feel like you have been as productive as you “should have been” to start. So, when the time comes to listen to your body, you may push yourself past what you actually feel capable of.
By resting, and becoming more accepting of your innate need to rest, you are challenging the status quo. You are reclaiming your time by going against the grain of what is considered “normal” and subverting the expectations others have of you – all of which are powerful tools to create a values-centered, authentic life.
By resting, you are on a powerful track to decolonize and deconstruct your mind, body, and life.