Tag: tricia hersey

Practicing Dolce Far Niente

The Italian ethic of dolce far niente is in English words “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Italians invented stopping to smell the roses.

I have long been entranced with my culture’s practice of taking time going about things “piano-piano” which is slowly-slowly like the tour guide in Rome told us to walk through the historic streets.

Having my health wrecked acting as a caregiver I had to prioritize my wellbeing in every area of my life not just by mitigating the effects of doing unpaid emotional labor for a family member.

Research proves that by working insane hours at a job a person’s level of productivity goes way down. The opposite of what you would think happens when we labor past 5:00 at the office to “get things done.”

Sadly, alternative careers to those in corporate offices often come with a lower salary and the risk of compassion fatigue with burnout. No one is immune from the risk of burning out.

How have I built ongoing rest into my life on and off the job? At the height of COVID forced indoors in lockdown I took naps in the afternoon long before reading Rest is Resistance.

Today after I work out in my home gym I lie in bed for an hour after each session and sometimes fall asleep then.

As best I can I try to go to bed between 9:00 to 10:30 p.m.

Tricia Hersey in Rest is Resistance ends her book with the call to use our imagination to create the future we want to have for ourselves. While napping ideas come to her.

The plots to novels come to me in dreams at night when I’m sleeping. I wake up, grab my pen and notebook and write down the details about the characters, plot, and book title.

I have also solved real-life problems by paying attention to the events in dreams and what those dreams are telling me to do.

Rest is not a luxury. It’s required for everyone living in America today. Especially for those of us who aspire to get a full-time job.

Coming up soon a dive into the perils of scrolling social media for hours. I haven’t ever been a fan of social media like Facebook. (hint: it’s more likely anti-social.)

Resting from Burnout

In future blog entries down the road I will talk about how we can have a life of health, wealth, and happiness. The idea of wealth today lies in having abundance. Regardless of our finances we have a cornucopia of skills, strengths, and abilities that can help us live our lives well.

The book above I read in 5 hours straight. I recommend that you rest between reading the chapters in Rest is Resistance.

The author is the founder of the Nap Ministry. Her book is short. Her life’s work of righting the injustice of capitalist “grind culture” is rooted in Black Liberation.

In the book Hersey attests that resting as a form of resistance is for everyone in society not just Black Americans.

The fact is every worker of every color and creed should not live to toil in servitude to corporations that put profits before people.

We should create our own value system that prioritizes being not doing as the indicator of a person’s worth. The myth of needing to be productive at all times I haven’t been a fan of either.

Hersey advocates for taking naps. She is against influencer-peddled methods for resting that only perpetuate that you should “rest up” to be able to get more done the next day.

Hersey is against capitalism as it exists today as it was founded through the forced inhuman 24/7 labor of enslaved Africans on plantations.

In the coming blog entry I will talk about my firsthand experience with napping and resting and taking breaks. To show you how I as an Italian born in America prioritized my mental and physical health long before reading Rest is Resistance.