We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape

by Tricia Hersey

The New York Times bestselling author of Rest Is Resistance guides us on a discovery of  how to escape from grind culture, wherever we can find it. The systems will never give us rest – it is something we must create for ourselves and each other. We don’t believe we are worthy of rest unless we burn ourselves out to accomplish it. Our thinking has been limited by disconnection, sleep deprivation and the unattainable call for perfection. From visionary artist and founder of The Nap Ministry Tricia Hersey invites us to imagine a world where we subvert the narrative of productivity at all costs, and the lies of capitalism and white supremacy on which it is built, to recognize the innate divinity in all of us. Inspired by vintage hymnals, prayer books, and abolitionist pamphlets, We Will Rest! is a contemporary take on a sacred object and a liberation manual providing intimate wayfinding to those searching for rest and care. Tricia Hersey weaves together poetry, storytelling, powerful illustrations and resistance wisdom to provoke the creation of refusal strategies and trickster rebellion in the face of worker exploitation and machine-like expectations. There is another way. Focus on the escape. Focus on the transformation. We can just be. We are beautiful. We are enough. We are escape artists. We Will Rest!

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Self Help, Audiobook, Social Justice, Spirituality, Health

160 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 2024

Reviews

[Jalisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

No shade but this read like a book of affirmations that reiterated exactly what was in the last book.

I listened to the audiobook which could be a good approach for her sermon like delivery. But the illustrations in the physical copy may have changed my feelings more positively about the book. The repetition that was in Rest is Resistance is evident. It was like repetition mad libs.

If you're looking for more depth, analysis, or layered tactics than were in the last book Rest is Resistance you will probably be disappointed. There are some breathing techniques and visualization exercises, but real techniques around how to organize life, work, and community is what I was looking for last time and still find it missing here.

[Ananya thefoodandbooklife · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book motivates you to slow down and rest, to avoid the hustle culture, to not let yourself be influenced by capitalism. But it does not provide with any practical solutions to avoid burn out. It felt repetitive and was not really helpful at finding ways to rest

[Miranda Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rest Against the Machine!

[Jung · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5 stars] A collection of art, affirmations, poetry, and prose on the spiritual and cultural necessity of rest and refusal. This book is really beautiful! It would make a great coffee table companion to Tricia Hersey’s previous Rest is Resistance manifesto. And similar to that one, I appreciate the clear politic of Black feminist maroonage woven throughout, something that isn’t commonly an aspect of other books on rest or self-care. Highly recommended for those in search of a morning meditation / contemplation read, readers of the personal development genre interested in deeper politicization, and anyone looking to build a practice of anti-capitalist refusal.

Publication Info: Little, Brown Spark / Hachette, November 2024
Goodreads Challenge 2024: 57/48

[Evee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting companion piece to "Trickster Makes This World". We must be tricksters, we must reclaim rest, we must reject the trauma of capitalism and grind culture. A good introduction piece for anticapitalist mindfulness practices.

[Krysta · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ 3.5 - I highly recommend treating this book as a meditation and a way to practice mindfulness. I was able to do the audiobook and with it only being an hour long, I was able to listen while laying down and closing my eyes while practicing my breath as well as while I was taking a hot shower while recovering from an illness. This author’s writing style is never my favorite but I think how I was able to consume her audiobook this time around made it a little more special.

[Joshunda Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

The publication of this affirming manual and its beautiful illustrations is really good, at least for me. I finished it while reclining with my dog on the couch - I highly recommend readers of this important book do the same.

[Daniel Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a beautiful piece of art and I wanted to get a copy for several of my activist friends.
I feel chronically trapped between- not just hustle culture and expenses but my own disabilities and competing needs from self, loved ones, community .. rest feels hedonistic. guilty.
And yet- especially today, 2025, we have a long fight ahead of us and need to remember the message beautifully illustrated in this short book.

I didn't know from the description that this was literally an artbook, not prose. "The art of..." did masterful work there. But I'm not fully sure I would have picked /this/ book over what I now know is the author's original that inspired it- if I knew both existed, and that feels worth 1* for me, even if not for others. But it's a solid, short book.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hell yeah

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for the Great Escapes category of Book Bingo. I think this book did a great job of compressing the message of the author's first book into 10 workable rules of life. It was only a 1 hour listen in audio format, read by the author. it was time well spent. I'll re-listen to this one to remind me of it's powerful message.

[mola tecta · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have to nap every day to continue functioning normally. although i no longer drown myself in guilt over it, i wish i didn’t have to; i wish i was different. but this reframing of rest felt so loving, affirming, and meditative …

“We don’t believe we are worthy of anything unless we burn ourselves out to accomplish it. Focus on the escape. Focus on the transformation. You can be free. You are free.”

i am free … !

[Casey]

Beautiful and poetic meditation on rest. Inspiring and motivating. Urgent and strong message, yet soft and loving delivery. Already listening to it again. If you haven’t already read the authors first book or become familiar with her work, do that first. Thank you Tricia Hersey!

[Lisa Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m such a fan of Tricia Hersey and her work. This book is an invitation, a how to guide, an inspiration, and more. She continues to invite us to subvert the predominant systems of this world and find another way. A way that includes resting, connecting, and just being in the world and with one another. A continual process and exercise I will be aspiring to for the rest of my life.

[Sejal Acharya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an easy read and powerfully points you back to the many gems and miracles that come from resting and napping.

[Emily D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry, prose, word art and devotionals. There was a little bit of everything in this book.

[Sarah Blatt-Herold · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, powerful meditation on rest

[Cheyenne Roche · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a motivational format for me. Felt more like a bunch of random affirmations slapped together.

[Mills Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is your divine right to rest."

This book is a deep, cleansing breath for overworked, tired people. No one is going to save us, so the author has written a guided path towards your own wellness. With black history and breaking away from grind culture, this book will leave you in awe, inspired, and in peace.

[Erica Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book is not meant to be devoured in one sitting. I would recommend reading "Rest is Resistance" before this, as it provides a lot of context for what is so lovingly illustrated in these pages. I loved the graphics in this book because they perfectly intertwined with the idea that rest should not be so difficult. To have a book of illustrations to see what rest can look like is great. Specifically, after page 61 there are about 7 pages that each depict a woman moving towards a bed, slowly. That resonated with me a lot.

Furthermore, there are practical ways here to incorporate rest into your daily practice. Daydream, go for a walk, listen to nature, lay on a couch, and don't forget your divine right to exist without being overworked.

This came at the perfect time of year, and it will be a book of reference for years to come. Visually stunning and carefully crafted.

[Michelle McLean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of poems, meditations and drawings. The book is beautiful to look at it and I took away a few things to reflect on. However there are a lot of blank pages, it’s quite low on original content and is priced at nearly £20 (UK). Book 1 is excellent, this second book is more artistic and aiming for something different, which didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

[Tali · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 restful starsssss!!!
REST Against the Machine!!!
Y’all I could write a dissertation on this little book…and you know what I think I will so buckle up and let me cook xD

"We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape" is an incredible Manifesto that rejects hustle and grind culture and instead celebrates the importance of rest. It sees rest not as optional, rather a necessity for our mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.

I never considered taking a break and resting as an act of defiance before. I always feel a little bit guilty when I take a day off from work or take a break from a project when I have a deadline. I actually read this book during breaks in the middle of a massive commission deadline and it was such a nice reminder that taking rests is not in fact lazy but VITAL to your creativity and mental health.

Rest is not only a necessity but it can also be an act of resistance against a misogynistic, capitalistic, and imperialist culture which encourages oppressed people to put our bodies on the line to help enrich the wealthy. It’s literally radical to say this in day and age that you’re taking a break from work (especially in America). When in reality, it should be radical the amount of HOURS we are working every day with no rest.

This book is a great reminder that the current system of capitalism that we are living within was not built for our wellbeing. It was built to make the rich richer at the expense of the poor working class. The system only works if we all participate which makes the act of resting so revolutionary.

I love the idea of invoking trickster energy and an escapist attitude when trying to find time to rest in this current grind culture. Finding ways to say no more often, treating simple spaces like your bed or your couch as a sacred space of ritual rest during the day is so beautiful and easy to do, yet revolutionary at the same time. Stealing moments of relaxation, stillness, and pause in our everyday hustle culture life is very doable. Whether that be a 15 minute nap on the couch, or 1 minute of deep breathing before the midday rush. All rest is valid no matter how small.


I think resting is also about DECIDING that you are worthy of it too. So many of us (myself included) believe that we have to EARN rest by working hard, burning ourselves out, etc. When in reality, this book reminds us that just by being born we are inherently worth, enough, and deserving of rest and relaxation.

This read also reminded of a quote I saw on Pinterest:
“Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman. Successful women? Yes. Productive women? Plenty. Anxious and afraid and apologetic women? Heaps of them. But relaxed women? At-ease women? Women who don't dissect their days into half hour slots of productivity? Women who prioritize rest and pleasure and play? Women who aren't afraid to take up space in the world? Women who give themselves unconditional permission to relax? Without guilt? Without apology? Without feeling like they need to earn it? I'm not sure I've ever met a woman like that. But I would like to become one.” - Nicola Hobbs

I feel like this quote perfectly relates to this book. Women, and black women ESPECIALLY, are not given permission to REST without apology and without “earning it”.
Allowing yourself to rest and tell yourself you are enough simply by existing is an insanely revolutionary act.

Rest can also be considered a kind of reparations, for black people especially. I was so touched whenever this book mentioned ancestors. How our enslaved ancestors were worked to the bone and their agency stolen from them. Some of them did not rest a day in their lives. So for them…I will rest. And I believe when I rest they are also resting with me. <3

So yeah…main takeaways from this book:
Rest is not optional.
Rest is an act of revolutionary rebellion against abusive, capitalistic systems.
Rest requires intention and belief in one’s own divinity.
Rest requires being aware of and listening to your own body, mind, spirit, and world around us.
Rest is vital to mental, spiritual, and physical health, ESPECIALLY as a black woman.
We rest not only for our own wellbeing, but for the memory of those who came before us and for the wellbeing of those who will come after us.

It's also important to rest in community so that we know we are not alone in this endeavor to reject hustle culture and revolutionize our relationship with our mind, body, and spirit.

The current system we are living in will not offer us rest and will not acknowledge our innate divinity. So we must steal it back ourselves.

Tali’s Current Rest Escape Plan:
- No working past contract hours more than 2x a week
- Saying no liberally and often until it becomes second nature
- Prioritizing my own artistic practice over my capitalistic 9-5
- Treating my bed as a sacred space. Not something I have to earn at the end of each day. Something I am worthy of regardless of my productivity
- Snatching moments of rest through out the day including deep breathing at work and actually taking lunch and water breaks
- Create a sacred morning/ nighttime ritual that prioritizes relaxation, calm, softness

✧༺♥༻∞

Quotes I resonated with:

“Develop clear boundaries that feel like fresh clay. Flexible, strong, and soothing to your body. Develop the ability to ignore anyone and anything that stands in the way of your goal of liberation. Every system in the culture doesn’t see your divinity. . . They were created for you to internalize the lies about labor in a capitalistic culture.” (21)

“For the millions of enslaved Africans,
Laboring on cotton plantations for centuries.
Backbreaking, soul-killing work.
Sharecropping on land that you should have owned.
Robbery.
Building this land.
You are welcomes,
To rest. “(30)

“They [our ancestors] are here now. They are napping with us.” (30)

“You view rest not as an afterthought and instead as the foundation and North Star. Follow the stars. Follow the light. You badly step into your role as the leader. You carry your escape plan in your pocket. You carry your escape plan in your heart.” (51)

“Rest as a freedom practice”(53)

“Anyone in this culture who believes and feels they are enough right now has begun the escape artist transformation. A brave trickster and master teacher in faith and enough-ness in a culture that teaches us that there’s never enough.”

“Be a witness and rejoice in the representation of a Black woman who refuses to overwork, who says no constantly, and who doesn’t view busyness as a badge of honor . . . My honor is created in my humanity. I don’t have to do anything else.” (61)

“We can craft and build temporary spaces of joy and freedom here and now.” (61)

“We don’t believe we are worthy of anything unless we burn ourselves out to accomplish it. Focus on the escape. Focus on the transformation. You can be free. You are free.” (89)

“A rested world is a healed world.” (98)

“Focus daily on the spectacle of escape . . . silence is rest . . . Let grind culture know you’re not playing around . . . Your thriving depends on the art of escape.” (105)

“Every day, morning, or night, or whenever you can steal away, find silence.” (107)

“Guilt and shame will be a formidable and likely opponent in your resistance . . . Let them come. We rest through it.” (107)

“We will disrupt grind culture by creating sacred spaces to rest and slow down . . . I will never ignore the pleas from my body and Spirit to slow down.” (124)

“You will have to prepare to love yourself and to refuse to inflict violence onto yourself by overworking.” (125)

“I will ruin all plans created without my consent about what my body can withstand.” (132)

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I will ruin all plans created without my consent about what my body can withstand.”

“I will never ignore the pleas from my body and Spirit to slow down.”

“Anyone in this culture who believes and feels they are enough right now has begun the escape artist transformation.”

I have read Tricia’s first book, Rest is Resistance, and I am big fan of the Nap Ministry. I appreciate the ways Tricia speaks about rest on her platforms with clarity and authority. My biggest takeaways from this short read are:

- Rest requires intention.
- Rest requires firm boundaries.
- Rest requires belief in one’s own inherent dignity.
- Rest requires listening — to one’s body and Spirit. To the world around us.
- Rest can happen when you want it to — we can always close our eyes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about rest the past few years, and I’m always struck by the slow and still things around me. In this book, Tricia mentions a moment in her childhood when she laid on grass and looked at a butterfly up close. She reflected that it felt like she was seeing hidden things. And I often feel that way when I slow down enough to notice the world around me — like it’s hidden in plan sight. Rest IS spiritual. My verse for this year of my life is Psalms 46:10 (NIV) - “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”” I pray that God would help me have even greater eyes to see Him and become a part of the stillness all around me.

[Shane Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Rest Is Resistance but this book feels incomplete - like the framework Tricia’s first book grounded readers in was established resolutely enough that this second volume lacked a substantive expansion of the first, and is thus hard to justify as a worthwhile read.
I believe Rest Is Resistance was unfairly critiqued for its repetition, which Tricia has written about as being an intentional element of deprogramming. Her counterargument is how I felt reading it before even coming across her discussion of it as a strategic writing style because I felt it working on me. Rest Is Resistance continues to be such a balm for my own programming & inability to relax into my body and I believe that repetition, alongside some of the other critiqued stylistic choices of its overall arc, are necessary to go deeper. They’re a meditation unto themselves.
At its best, I felt that same magick while reading We Will Rest - but nowhere close as consistently. I was surprised by how quickly this book was published after Rest Is Resistance and I think that not only could it have used further simmering before publication, there isn’t much contained within it that you can’t access in Rest Is Resistance, which I’d recommend both new readers as well as those familiar with The Nap Ministry to read instead.

[Briann · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Instead become real good at dog-paddling
Learn how to bandage up a wound
That really needs stitches

Learn to rest even when you are called lazy
Learn how to slow down even when
The monster of guilt appears"


While I appreciate the idea behind this book and the included feminist methodologies, it was not as developed or as powerful as I would have liked. It was hard to believe that over 10 pages were simply a comic of a woman slowly walking to her bed. My immediate thought was it was a waste of paper, which maybe makes it a sort of rebellion, as it goes against capitalistic culture. However, I could not see myself ever buying this book on my own or anticipating that others would like to buy it either. The same phrases are repeated over and over again. There feels like nothing of true substance.

[Ayanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautiful art inside and out. Tricia Hersey continues to reiterate and repeat the mantra that we must rest. It sounds simple to do but her constant reminder of how we’re all cogs in grind culture makes it’s really difficult to disassociate. I read this book slowly over weeks to absorb and process and meditate. I recommend this and her first work, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto. If you’re interested in learning how and why you’re trapped in grind culture and white supremacy and what actions to take to get out of it, both of her works will set you on that path. It’s a slow unwind. She shares some of her story poetically in We Will Rest. She also shares history, illustrations, mantras and poetry. It’s artistically beautiful and a warm and calming read.

[Judith Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Hershey’s first book Rest is a resistance became a liberation tool for me. I began napping, making time to dream and spreading the gospel of rest on my blog. However, her 2nd book We Will Rest” is more of a poetic birthing for Ms. Hersey than a follow up. The imagery both in visual and storytelling is quite suitable for her message. However, some of the messages written in this book I found to be less soft and triggering (young and razor blade.. .. ouch).

I appreciate the nod to heritage and history, it definitely has its place in literature. Blending tough history with rest and softness may be difficult for some.
Three stars for creativity for sure. 👍🏾

[V Massaglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this short and pithy book, hitting hard and more pointed the concepts presented in "Rest is Resistance."

"Inspired by vintage hymnals, prayer books, and abolitionist pamphlets, We Will Rest! is a modern sacred object, medicine for a sick and exhausted world. Weaving together meditations and poetry with storytelling and powerful art, Hersey provokes liberation through refusal and trickster rebellion in the face of capitalism and white supremacy." From: https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/...

I'm going to gift to this peeps.

V

[Rachael Hobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have spent the last year and a half going to grad school full time, working full time, working additional jobs, and dealing with personal situations that have been incredibly painful. I am more than tired, I am burnt out. So of course when I came across this title at one of my jobs, I grabbed it. We Will Rest!: the Art of Escape is a series of poems and anecdotes about the importance of rest. A person is entitled it. Going through these pages was the reminder I needed to take care of myself first.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine. In the current dumpster fire in which we're living, this seemed like a good read and carried more weight than it would have if I read it a year or two ago. But, it didn't really have anything that profound in it, and I didn't think that the style was that effective. It read like a Tumblr blog. A listicles that was broken up across sections, some short quotes, and a few musings (in poetic structure), then rinse and repeat.

Thanks LibroFM and the publisher for the ALC.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a nice summation of her previous work, but filled with short practices, art, mantras and poetry. It felt like it incorporated some of the joy of the rest deck she created. Although a tad repetitive, the reminders are the way to break that cycle of grind culture and internalize what rest and freedom mean to you. I liked the format and appreciate this work deeply as I try to break from the pattern of capitalism that continues daily to try to break my soul.