The Magic of Rest (and the Thing That Keeps Us From It)

Rest equals energy, creativity and inspiration. That’s why we need it and need to prioritize it. Without all seven types, we are exhausted, leached of our individual magic, and do shittier work.

So we need to rest. Simple, right?

We wish. 

No because to choose rest is to choose to go against some of the ingrained norms our societies have told us our entire lives about work and rest. 

“You only have value through your productivity.” 

“Rest is something you earn. You have to work hard to access it.”

“If you rest you’re lazy.”

“Someone else will come along and take it or do it, if you don’t.”

Wrong. All of them and so many others. These are just some of the lies we’re told about work and rest and life that get us to believe falsely that we are not inherently deserving of rest. We were born to be, to live, to embrace all of our lives with our greatest capacity, and that requires rest. 

Tricia Hersey, author of Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto and founder of the Nap Ministry, explains the political and essential nature of rest in her book and in her work. She describes it as radical, “Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy.” But also as something that opens up our potential as human beings, ““My inspiration for rest is deep and expansive. I’m inspired by invention and the opportunity to craft something new from scratch. I’m inspired by remixing and being subversive. I am inspired by disruption and tenderness. I am inspired by imagination…” All of which comes from rest. 

Rest is our right as Hersey would say. But it isn’t easy to access. We are often blocked from it culturally and individually.

Shame comes along with rest too often when we talk about it in our workshops. Tied to a false belief that we don’t deserve it unless we’ve proved we’ve earned it. But after burning out and going on healing and rest journeys we tapped into the power of rest. The energy and clarity it brought to our work and our ability to explore life creatively still blows our minds.

It’s sort of magical, rest. But the only way to understand it’s magic is to make it a part of your life. So not just vacations that leave you dreading going back to real life and work, but integrated rest into each day of your life. Slowing down when you need to. Listening to your body. And setting the right boundaries to allow space for it. 

Boundaries are one of the most important ideas we discuss and share about in our rest workshops. Because without healthy boundaries at work (and in life) it is hard to access and integrate rest in a way that allows for it’s expansiveness in your life in a meaningful way. 

In her book, Real Self Care, Pooja Lakshmin explains that boundaries are a pause. When someone requests something from you, establishing a clear boundary requires a pause and deciding if you are going to say yes, no, or negotiate an alternative. That approach to boundaries reflects the belief (and truth) that our time is our own. We may trade it to our jobs in exchange for money, but it is ours. And understanding that makes it easier to set boundaries around it and prioritize things like rest.

Rest is resistance, but it is also essential for living a full and meaningful life. Walking around exhausted, disconnected, and doing mediocre work at best is no way to live. And we know this for having done both and landed firmly on the side of rest. 

But, we understand. It’s not easy to let go of shame. It’s not something you just wake up one day and decide to do and it sticks. Especially the shame we’ve been conditioned to feel around rest–as the children of immigrants we both know the rhetoric of hard work and success. But what we’d encourage you to do is to pause the next time you think or feel that you need a break and explore the resistance (and shame) that may come up with it and ask yourself, where did that come from? AND can I see it another way?

Sounds simple, right? This one is. Awareness is often the first step in breaking a toxic cycle.

We hope this helps you on your own journey of re-imagining work (and rest). Reach out any time with questions or thoughts on this or any other element fo the Re-Work Equation.