Christy Lou

“The Rest Is Resistance framework also does not believe in the toxic idea that we are resting to recharge and rejuvenate so we can be prepared to give more output to capitalism. What we have internalized as productivity has been informed by a capitalist, ableist, patriarchal system. Our drive and obsession to always be in a state of “productivity” leads us to the path of exhaustion, guilt, and shame. We falsely believe we are not doing enough and that we must always be guiding our lives toward more labor. The distinction that must be repeated as many times as necessary is this: We are not resting to be productive. We are resting simply because it is our divine right to do so.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“We are socialized into systems that cause us to conform and believe our worth is connected to how much we can produce. 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.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“brother I cannot help but hate you for what you have not gone through— for the danger and pain no one expects you to endure. I have to work much harder to stay open and good-hearted while I am condemned, followed home, and hurt. Then again, I wonder, does kindness still come easy to a man who can walk where he chooses to go? From whom is gentleness farther— the hunter or the deer— when He only hears yes, and She only hears no?”
― Devrie Donalson, You’re Gonna Die Alone

“You are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn rest. Rest is not a luxury, a privilege, or a bonus we must wait for once we are burned out. I hear so many repeat the myth of rest being a privilege and I understand this concept and still deeply disagree with it. Rest is not a privilege because our bodies are still our own, no matter what the current systems teach us.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto