On Rest and Resistance

 A confession: there is a moment, pretty much every day, when I am in bed, the snooze button has been hit a few times, and I look at the clock and wonder: can I do it today? Can I actually get up?

But that’s not the confession. The confession is that many times , possibly half the time, even though it’s already “later than it should be”, I sink back down and literally pull the sheets over my head. Perhaps you know what I’m saying? There used to be posters and mugs with sayings like: Not a Morning Person Doesn’t Begin To Cover It. And we laugh because it’s so funny. Except it’s not. And on the days when I’m going into my physical office, there is also always a moment of surprise for me when I’m riding the train, realizing: okay, I’ve done it again. I got up. It’s kind of a surprise though it also comes with wondering what I forgot in order to get out of the house. My lunch? Check. Makeup on? Check. My phone? Check. I’ve forgotten each of these over the last few weeks, so I check off the basics and let that be enough. There are connected ideas here. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a Night Person . In my perfect world, I’m up until 1 or 2 am and sleeping til noon. Pre-pandemic, I was working 9-5, in the office, 5 days a week. I sucked it up, imagining that someday things might change. The complete surprise, of course, was that things changed. Everything changed.

I have no way of knowing the stats on this but it seems like we night people are in the minority. Early birds are great for jobs with 9-5 schedules. And that was how it was in the Before Times. Lots of us Night People working hours that were unnatural for us, five days a week. When we arrived at work late, even with kind coworkers, the underlying assumption was that we were outliers, which also meant those of us who aren’t are perceived as lazy or weird.

But then, it was Covid and we were all home, all the time-- a complete upheaval.

Last summer, I offered up a sermon at my church: What Covid Showed Me. It was a numbered list of items and number 1 on this list was titled: I Don't Have to Be Chronically Exhausted. It offered this observation:   

 I discovered had extra time in my day and didn’t dread every morning. It took several weeks for me to realize what was happening but one day last June, I told a friend: I’m not chronically exhausted anymore.  It was a revelation – and I hadn’t realized it was possible.

For me this was -- and still is -- a miracle. But here's the thing. I am a person who knows how privileged a world I live in. I am grateful to be able to now be more able to give my body what it needs, when it needs it. For so many in the world, this is not a possibility.

There is a woman in Atlanta -- Tricia Hersey -- whose Facebook page: The Nap Ministry caught my eye a couple of years ago. I assumed it was a call for those of us who were tired to take naps, which it does -- but more importantly, it is a call for us to resist the Grind Culture, for people of color especially.

She has been working on a book which will be published in October called Rest is Resistance. I have already preordered my copy. I cannot do justice to the power of her words, though I try to live up to her mission every day. In the description of her book, she is described this way:

    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.

I listen to her words because she is dead-on right. The Grind Culture can only kill us. Certainly it means we don't live our own lives. We are addicted to a system that profits off of us. That is not life. 

This is powerful stuff. If I truly care for collective liberation, how can I not answer this call?

If you are interested in reading more of Tricia's work, here are the links to her book preorder.

Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey | Little, Brown Spark (littlebrownspark.com)

Listen to your bodies, friends. Take a nap. It's good for the soul.

Peace