Rest Is Resistance

Book by Tricia Hersey (2022)

Part healing guide, part social critique, this manifesto by the founder of The Nap Ministry declares that rest is a vital and liberatory practice, especially for Black people and anyone exhausted by grind culture. Hersey shares her journey as an overworked Black mother who began prioritizing naps and rest, and ties it to reclaiming agency and healing ancestral trauma (she notes that enslaved people and their descendants were denied rest). The tone is fiercely compassionate. It explicitly tells readers “you are not a machine” and that choosing to rest is an act of care and resistance, not laziness. For a caregiver who feels guilty about stopping, this book can be paradigm-shifting, offering cultural permission to slow down and a warm hug of validation that rest is your right. You can find more about the book here, more about The Nap Ministry here, and more about Tricia here.