Reflections On Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto
I started reading the book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey, Founder of The Nap Ministry on a day that I called out from work claiming I was sick. I wasn’t sick per se, but I sure was tired. And I did what the book said to do. I laid TF down, read this book and then I fell asleep.
I can’t remember when I started following Ms. Hersey, AKA “The Nap Bishop” on Instagram, but everything about her message, her movement, and her philosophies resonated with me because I had been napping since I was a child at a time when many children fought aggressively against this daily childhood practice of mine. Napping for me, even as a child was never about fatigue or getting more rest. It was always about dreaming, processing, and creating. And I could lay down and rest anywhere.
One of my uncles used to say, “Mookie (my family nickname) will go to sleep anywhere”. And he was so right. I could curl up on someone’s couch, on a plane, in someone’s bed as long as it felt safe, in a chair, or the back of a car. I have had some of my most deepest and profound episodes of rest on a carpeted floor. I used to regularly visit a wet spa in LA where I would spend hours in the sauna, the steam room, and the jacuzzi, and then I would sleep in the resting room unbothered and well-rested.
