Book Review and Reflection of Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Genre: Non-fiction / Spiritual / Social Commentary
Date of Publication: 2022, United States

Buy the book: Bookshop.org | Amazon UK

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Introduction

This book came at a time when I was finally resting after over four years of intense studying. In 2020, I moved to England to pursue a PhD with my six-year-old daughter in tow — the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. For over four years, I worked tirelessly and rested very little. At one point, I burnt out and my body forced me to rest.

In April 2025, I got another job — my first proper full-time 9–5 job in years. No weekend work, and so I just rested. I laid up on my couch, nice and warm, and watched TV or read a book.

I just rested — felt more like a recovery than anything else, to be fair. But I enjoyed it.

So when I read this book, I couldn’t put it down. It felt like the permission I needed to rest without feeling guilty about it. Because even while I rested and recovered, I started feeling guilty about it. I started wondering whether I became lazy.

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Book Summary

In this book, Tricia Hersey proclaims that rest is “our birthright” or a “human right” and pushes back on grind culture, as well as on capitalism. She infuses storytelling — she tells her own story and that of her grandmother who would rest her eyes, and that of her father who worked so hard for over five years and lost his life at the young age of 55.

Tricia tells about how she started and how she was called “lazy.” She questions, “Who taught you to rest?” She emphasises that rest is the natural way of being, not the exception.

She writes about her healing ministry and its tenets, which I will not repeat here, but are worth reading for oneself.

Throughout part one, however, I kept struggling with the question of how can we embrace rest, reject grind culture, and still live, work, and exist in systems operating on capitalism and white supremacy? It’s all well and good to say we reject those systems (and we truly do), but how do we reject and rebel against those systems and still be able to pay the bills and survive?

How do we reject having multiple jobs, when in reality single jobs do not pay well enough to cover our essential bills? And as I was reading this book, I kept coming back to bell hooks’ Sisters of the Yam, where she also addresses this human and complex addiction to working ourselves to the bone as Black people — somehow even when we don’t need to, because it’s what we’ve always known.

So while I do understand and agree wholeheartedly with the notion of not working harder than we should, I do also want to see practical suggestions for those who have no choice but to work hard.

I felt myself as an example and as someone emerging from a period of working myself to the bone — juggling four jobs at one point, being a single mother to a young girl and thus juggling that too. I needed all of my jobs to pay rent and do nice things for my child like swimming lessons, building self-esteem and her future self, which will benefit her life fully.

Only after I got a full-time job could I shed all the rest. Do nothing. Sleep in. Watch TV. Read. Take naps. Take nature walks, and so on.

When I came to part two, I was answered in part: rest is not easy to do, and this is within the backdrop of resisting grind culture and capitalism and white supremacy.

Rest can look different for different people. It can be intentionally taking a timed 20-minute nap. I never nap — like never. But one of my closest friends does. He said midday naps are a game-changer. So I decided I will incorporate these into my routine going forward.

So I suppose it’s recognising what is available to you at the time and working in conjunction with that.

I also took notice of her writing about the role of the Black church and its significance — not only because her father played a significant role in her church, but also what the Black church means to her and for other Black folks. I see these similar sentiments repeated in Brittney Cooper’s writing in Eloquent Rage.

Another theme that strongly stood out for me was how she addressed the query of whether her work is only for Black people, to which she responded in clear terms that it is not. Like Martin Luther King Jr. and bell hooks added, it affects everyone because we all must co-exist. We all must work, live, access the same services, and so on — which brings to mind Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us: what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together.

I suppose this resonated with me much strongly as well because of my profound belief in the African philosophy of Ubuntu.

Tricia does say that this radical work and positioning — “You are not unworthy, the systems are unworthy.”

She speaks of the importance of creating systems of care to dismantle oppression:

• Storytelling
• Radical faith
• Slowing down
• Re-imagination — reimagining rest, which looks like so many things
• Radical refusal – to be destroyed by systems of oppression

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Reflections & Recommendations

This book met me at a time when I needed permission to pause — and I imagine many others will feel the same. Hersey’s words are deeply rooted in spirituality, history, and healing. She challenges the idea that productivity defines our worth and calls for radical rest as both a human right and a spiritual practice.

While I completely agree with her call to reject grind culture, I also find myself wanting to see practical guidance for those whose survival depends on working hard. Still, Rest is Resistance offers a necessary provocation — one that asks us to slow down, resist capitalist demands, and remember that our worth is not tied to exhaustion.

For anyone navigating burnout, activism, or the constant push to “do more,” this book is a balm and a manifesto.

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About the Author

Tricia Hersey, is the founder of The Nap Ministry, an organisation that explores the liberating power of rest through the lens of Black liberation theology, womanism, and resistance to capitalism. Hersey’s work blends art, activism, and spiritual care to encourage communities, particularly Black communities, to reclaim rest as a form of resistance and healing. Find out more about her and her work here.