We’re not talking about rest so all of you can go take a nap. And to be clear some leaders actually need a long nap.

In the first six months of the pandemic, I co-facilitated a series of identity-caucus sessions for black staff members from a prominent economic rights organization. My co-facilitator and I had really taken account of the stress inside the organization. Some of this stress came from the way the system works, the diverse effects the pandemic was having, and the ongoing trauma of police violence that was more heavily making news headlines.
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So many of the people in the session looked visibly tired and frustrated. During this session, one of the pieces of educational material from Tricia Hersey’s The Nap Ministry Movement, where she speaks to the need for different forms of rest including rest for rest’s sake.
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After I finished sharing this small section on rest, many of the women were tired and acknowledged that openly. And then something magical and surprising happened. One of the men in the group spoke up and said, “I think this rest movement is a tactic for diversion from what we are doing right now -- we’re winning.” He was referring to the economic gains of some sectors of the labor movement and the attention on the issues affecting Black communities.
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Honestly, I was caught off guard. My first thought, which was just a gut reaction, was “Don’t you see how tired we all look!” I also thought about the patriarchy, but that’s gotta be another conversation to not confuse things.
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But really, then as I settled into his point of view and the counterpoints being made by other people in the group, I started to see two beautiful things unfold.
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First, how often do Black and Brown folks coming from long ancestral lines of back-breaking work get to even consider rest or admit they want it? It’s really not built into our DNA to consider it. Our ancestors have been and continue to do heavy work for a living. We often saw our parents struggle and work hard to survive. This moment was incredible because the diverse perspectives of Black leaders were allowed to come forward and be debated in a large institution, many of whom were in positions of influence.
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To be clear, this debate on rest led to an organization-wide intervention and to the beginning of new conversations related to rest. Black folks at this institution were not interested in just talking about what they needed emotionally. They were principally tired of asking for structural and process changes at every level and not getting anywhere. Navigating exclusionary systems and processes can cause a deep-felt sense of exhaustion and even depression. When systems can’t hear or recognize new and diverse perspectives coming consistently from Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, those systems become tools of oppression. They suppress the people, the possibility of innovation, and the system itself. In the end, all the people in the system suffer for it.
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If you believe that concepts of rest need to be a cornerstone of our work, I’m glad you’re here. I invite you to read this piece on my blog, where I share more insights on how we can cultivate a culture of collective rest, joy and ritual.​

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