#rest is resistance

[liberaljane]

"What did you do all weekend?"

"I just rested"

"Just?"

Digital illustration of a brown woman sleeping in blue linen sheets. At the end of the bed is a sleeping cat.

[smokefalls]

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.”

Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

[intersectionalpraxis]

I have seen quite a few people on TikTok create content for their "my 9 to 5 and then 5 to 9" work/job life, and I know of another person creating content to showcase their work life 'in order to save $100,000' (they have 2 Full-Time jobs). It just astounds me that anyone would see this as inspiring because these mentalities are ableist as hell and do not take into account how the small billion class is complicit in most of the world's suffering; but also how these 'takes' are so far removed from the fact that under capitalism our bodies are seen as expendable. All around the world people are working themselves to the bone and are still struggling -and we must keep challenging and resisting capitalism. The more people glorify -romanticize this lifestyle of constant work are going to burn out and destroy their health. For companies who do not care. Who see you are replaceable literally -it's just sad and frustrating.

I stumbled upon this Instagram page a long time ago, and Tricia Hersey's work on "rest is resistance" is so incredibly important (there are many intricacies to her work and she addresses these intersections in her book and on her social media as well). They have a blog and are on Instagram and Twitter:

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A post shared by The Nap Ministry (@thenapministry)

[radicalgraff]

"Resting is resistance”

Seen in Poznań, Poland

[averiverastudio]

[living400lbs]

"Your body is yours. Its uniqueness and stories it has to tell are yours. A community call toward rest as a form of activism is a call to slow down and listen and care. It is an empowered place fueled by the shared goal of becoming more human. We are not machines."

From Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersy

[wellconstructedsentences]

We must believe we are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn it. It is our birthright. It is one of our most ancient and primal needs.

Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

[asg-stuff]

Our constant labor becomes a prison that allows us to be disembodied. We become easy for the systems to manipulate, disconnected from our power as divine beings and hopeless. We forget how to dream. This is how grind culture continues. We internalize the lies and in turn become agents of an unsustainable way of living. (via Excerpt: ‘Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto’ by Tricia Hersey)

[iamtheweirdomister]

[liberaljane]

Your card…

Digital illustration of a tarot card with an image of a fem standing and sleeping. She is wrapped in a blanket and wearing a fluffy tiered skirt. There are vines, a large flower and a bean bag chair. Text reads, ‘the radical tester.’

[smokefalls]

I wish you rest today. I wish you a deep knowing that exhaustion is not a normal way of living. You are enough. You can rest. You must resist anything that doesn’t center your divinity as a human being. You are worthy of care.

Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

[jovial-thunder]

do no shit

take no harm

[soft--slow]

A Map for Staying; a short storytelling.

[livvyanarchy]

do your part today. take a nap

[queerauntie]

November Reads

November was a blast, I quit my toxic job and these books really helped me from falling into depression again. Before that job I had been unemployed since July and it was dark y'all. While we aren't fully out of that hole (summer, summer hurry up!) reading has been such a transformative way to heal from the misery I'd been feeling these past few years. Without further ado, November's novels:

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey (Founder of The Nap Ministry)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Odd One Out by Nic Stone

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Black Girls Must Be Magic by Jayne Allen

Love Radio was a delight. The characters were so cute and well thought out, and their personalities were fun to see interact together, making them a perfect match! While it's a red flag to me when someone is so persistently pesuing someone, I am willing to call it a Doppler/Dahmer (a himym reference ifkyk) situation and lean in. I'm glad I did because Prince ended up being worth the leap of faith. Talk about someone who genuinely wants to show up for YOU, in any capacity they can. So many people (read men) feel like if they have feelings for a girl, the only way they can have a successful relationship is if it's a romantic and sexual one. FAKE concepts like "the friend zone" are their way of telling us they can't love us in any other capacity, because it's not about us, it's about the claiming of us. Prince loves Danielle and he isn't caught up with those ideas and he sees Danielle for who she is, an amazing young woman who's on her journey and deserving of love. Danielle goes through a gutting experience that she deals with throughout the story, and as she's not initially open to romance, Prince doesn't see that as rejection or a "chase" or "tease". He truly hears her and is happy to meet her where she needs and shows up the way a true friend would, which Dani definitely needs at this point. I loved this story, and even though I saw it at Target, it breaks through the Target Tear, I definitely Loved this book!

Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey is a book I've been highly anticipating! I've been following @TheNapMinistry on twitter for months now, her message is simple. Rest is not something we have to earn, we rest because it is our right. Her work centralizes Black People who've had their rest robbed for centuries, reminding them that rest and dreaming are key to liberation. This message extends to non-Black people as an introduction on how to start breaking down our cultural brainwashing and recognize how our complacency upholds capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. When we prioritize resting over the never-ending machine that is American capitalism, we become a wrench instead of a cog. This book, right next to How We Show Up, go right on my required reading for friends and community. This book will also be read again, every time I need a reminder!

The next book on my list was the first major book I read this year, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. While almost all of the books before this were around 6-9 hours, Addie LaRue comes in at 17 hours! It was very intimidating, and I initially was reading the book wrong, I was looking for the rising action to begin and was zooming through the first half thinking it was merely world-building. I was wrong, it was all a part of the journey that Addie herself was on, figuring things out as she went and learning so many important lessons along the way. Once I understood that I needed to be a part of the story with Addie, not a ghost viewing from above, the story took hold of me fiercely and I was completely hypnotized by this world. It was a thrill ride to the end, trying to figure out where it could possibly end, and what solutions could we possibly come to. Another read again to simply be in that world again, and of course, to prep for the hinted-at sequel!

Odd One Out was a book that was recommended by my bestie, this is the book where I started to go "maybe I just don't like male characters..." because there was absolutely nothing Coop could do that I didn't take issue with! The author really had me in the first half because I was ready to fight him for not getting over his crush on a LESBIAN! But bestie told me to give good faith, and I held out hope. Spoiler alert it does not end in a polyamorous ending, I'll rip that bandaid right off for ya cause no one did for me. But the ending was satisfying and I guess if it's vaguely personal, I can't be mad someone got a happy ending!

Black Cake was a haunting and beautiful journey. I've talked about it more here, so please go read that, or better yet, just read Black Cake. It's definitely in my top 10 of the year, it was pulling on the heartstrings, keeping me on the edge, and immensely satisfied by the end. It was a novel I could trust, whether it was a happy or sad ending, you could feel the care and love the writer put into this novel, and it was beautiful to experience this story and I hope it continues to gain lots of attention, it deserves all the flowers!

A Darker Shade of Magic! Wow what an amazing story! This is my best friend's favorite book by their favorite author, so it was LONG overdue that I read this book! By God it was fan-fucking-tastic! It was another Schwab immersive world I couldn't get enough of. I was thrilled that there was an entire trilogy to enjoy, and even more, so that a second trilogy is in the works. I will be talking more about V.E. Schwab as an artist because she is just phenomenal and I am looking forward to reading more of her works this upcoming year!

Black Girls Must Be Magic was somehow better than it's predecessor, how many sequels can say that? But it absolutely felt like catching up with an old friend and I was beyond thrilled for her in this chapter of her life. Healing from the loss of her grandma, Tabi continues to face work struggles and personal problems. But she's been working on rebuilding her support system so she has her besties to confide in and work through those things with, instead of doing it on her own. I am so proud of the growth she's made in this journey, and I can't wait for the third book to come out. I have a few more thoughts about this series here, so enjoy!

I did it, I got through november! Stay tuned, December shall be posted within the next 2 hours!

Yearly Book Count: 23/??

[living400lbs]

"The link between sleep deprivation and stress to the development of chronic diseases is real. [My father] had major health issues at a young age: diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and sleep apnea. An internalized grind culture set things in motion for an early death at fifty-five.

[...]

Grind culture killed my father and is killing us physically and spiritually. Sleep deprivation is a public health issue and a racial justice issue. There is a large body of research that points to the sleep gap that exists between Black Americans and white Americans."

From Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey