Resting to Resist Hustle Culture
Central Park, NYC. Quinn Corte, 2022.
Listen to the audio version below:
I always experience hustle-culture shock when I arrive in New York. The blaring sirens, pushy crowds, and late nights overwhelm my sensitive system.
But after a few days, I start to override my natural sensitivities. My adrenaline gets pumping and I pick up the pace. I suit up in energetic armor so the honking cabs and hurried colleagues don't bother me as much. After awhile, I start to crave the chemical rewards of intensity and high performance.
Although I’m quite good at go-go-go mode, it actually isn’t my natural state. I feel most like myself in a quiet area with more trees and less urgency. When I'm in that environment, my nervous system can settle and feel safe. I drop my defenses, breathing easier. Without the thrum of frenetic energy draining me, I recover more quickly and have bigger ideas. I feel more human.
But it’s easy to override subtle internal signals when I'm swept away by Big City tides. Hustle culture is alluring, familiar, and even celebrated.
After a New York colleague got the Covid booster shot, I asked how she was feeling. She said she didn’t know; she didn't have time for side effects, so she was planning to ignore them. Her workload was more important than her body.
How many times have you heard your body say, “I don’t feel well,” “I don’t feel good around this person,” or “I don’t want to do this anymore,” and ignored it? Pushed through? Reasoned your way past it?
It's common to see the body as the enemy; to see illness or fatigue as an obstacle to overcome. But what if we stopped ignoring our invitations to rest?
What if headaches weren’t inconveniences, but truth tellers? What if that anxious feeling wasn’t a personal failing, but a red flag? Instead of being angry with our bodies for falling apart or showing signs of weakness, they can be allies for finding greater balance.
My colleague isn't the only one ignoring her body in service of sticking to a schedule. It takes emergencies before many of us will ease up and slow down. We are a product of hustle culture--where productivity is more important than wellbeing.
~
My most recent stay in New York for work coincided with the release of Rest as Resistance, a new book by Tricia Hersey. I was already a fan of Hersey’s work with the Nap Ministry, but now I’m an evangelist.
Hersey is a Black artist, activist, and writer who preaches about the divine right to rest. Through napping and slowing down, she says we are rebelling against a violent capitalist and white supremacist system that extracts as much as possible from our bodies and the Earth. When we buy into the grind, we are upholding a system rooted in oppression.
I listened to Hersey’s interviews and audio book on my morning walks to work at the Met. Her sermons changed me on a cellular level. As I passed the falling leaves of Central Park, I listened to her tell me that moving slowly and feeling calm is my birthright. Our bodies are sites of liberation; not efficiency machines.
"For us to not view our own bodies or the bodies of others as a divine dwelling, the site of liberation and a miracle, is to bow down to the dominant, oppressive culture," Hersey says.
It’s taking me ages to learn that just because I can hustle doesn’t mean I should hustle. Just because it’s the default mode for so many, doesn’t mean it’s the right way to live. Society gets it backwards.
When I live in a grind mentality, I’m not only betraying my body’s needs but also uplifting the toxic systems I want to change.
When I live in a liberation mentality, I honor my right to dream and recover. My example gives others permission to do the same.
Most importantly, this transition from hustle to liberation should be slow and gentle. It should be shared, practiced together, and encouraged in our communities. It won't happen overnight and it won't happen alone.
If you feel any resonance with what I share, I invite you to listen to Tricia Hersey speak. Here’s the link to buy her book*, my favorite interview with her (1 hour), and a shorter interview (25 min). Her work is brilliant.
So dear reader, please don’t ignore your body because you have too much work to do. 90% of that shit can wait while you go lie down for awhile. Our divine human bodies are more important than our output.
As Hersey says, “I refuse to donate my body to the system any longer, so I’m resting.”
If you won’t rest for yourself, join me in resting for the greater good.
*If you buy Tricia Hersey’s book using this link, a portion of the money will go to independent bookstores and another portion will support The Retreat Space. Win-win-win!
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