Rest Is Resistance: Reclaiming Your Nervous System in a Grind Culture World
In my work as a psychotherapist, one of the most common themes I encounter across clients—regardless of age, profession, or background—is exhaustion. Not just physical fatigue, but emotional depletion, cognitive overload, and a deep sense of never feeling “caught up.” Many clients enter therapy believing their burnout is a personal failure—poor time management, lack of discipline, or insufficient motivation.
But what if your exhaustion is not dysfunction… but information?
What if your body is resisting systems that were never designed for your wellness?
This is where the concept of rest as resistance becomes both clinically relevant and psychologically liberating.
The Psychology of Grind Culture
We live in a productivity-obsessed society that equates worth with output. Messages such as:
“Sleep when you’re dead.”
“No days off.”
“Rise and grind.”
“You have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé.”
…have normalized chronic overextension.
From a mental health perspective, grind culture reinforces:
Chronic sympathetic nervous system activation (fight/flight)
Cortisol dysregulation
Emotional numbing
Anxiety and irritability
Sleep disturbances
Compassion fatigue
Identity fusion with achievement
Over time, the body begins to protest—through burnout, depression, somatic symptoms, or what many clients describe as “shutting down.”
Clinically, I often reframe this shutdown not as pathology—but as protection.
Rest as a Nervous System Intervention
Rest is not laziness. Rest is regulation.
Intentional rest supports:
Parasympathetic activation (rest/digest state)
Emotional processing
Memory consolidation
Hormonal balance
Trauma recovery
Executive functioning
For clients with trauma histories, high caregiving roles, or chronic workplace stress, rest becomes a therapeutic requirement—not a luxury.
Yet many individuals feel guilt when resting.
This guilt is socially conditioned—not psychologically innate.
Introducing Rest Is Resistance
One book I frequently recommend in both therapy and wellness spaces is:
Rest Is Resistance: Free Yourself from Grind Culture and Reclaim Your Life by Tricia Hersey
Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, frames rest as a form of liberation—particularly for marginalized communities whose labor has historically been exploited and whose rest has been systemically denied.
Her work blends:
Psychology
Cultural critique
Black liberation theology
Somatic awareness
Collective healing frameworks
Rather than positioning rest as self-indulgence, Hersey reframes it as:
A disruption of oppressive systems that measure human value by productivity.
Clinical Themes From the Book
In psychotherapy practice, several core themes from Rest Is Resistance resonate deeply with clients:
1. Rest Exposes Internalized Worth Narratives
Many clients discover beliefs such as:
“If I’m not working, I’m failing.”
“I have to earn rest.”
“Rest is for people who are weak.”
Therapy helps unpack where these narratives originated—family systems, capitalism, racialized labor expectations, or survival adaptation.
2. Exhaustion Can Be Ancestral and Collective
For many, burnout is not just personal—it is intergenerational.
Communities shaped by scarcity, migration, racial inequity, or economic instability often carry inherited hyper-vigilance around work and security.
Rest then becomes both personal healing and cultural repair.
3. Nap as Protest, Stillness as Power
Hersey’s emphasis on napping and stillness challenges the idea that constant motion equals progress.
From a trauma lens, stillness allows the body to:
Complete stress cycles
Process stored survival energy
Rebuild tolerance for safety
Signs Your Body Is Resisting Through Fatigue
You may be experiencing “rest resistance” if you notice:
Chronic exhaustion despite adequate sleep
Sunday anxiety or work dread
Emotional numbness
Brain fog
Increased irritability
Loss of joy in previously meaningful activities
Desire to withdraw or “do nothing”
These are not character flaws. They are nervous system signals.
Therapeutic Practices to Reclaim Rest
Here are practices I often integrate into treatment planning:
1. Permission Statements
Write and repeat:
“My rest is productive.”
“I am worthy beyond my output.”
“Rest restores my capacity to live.”
2. Micro-Rest Intervals
Rest doesn’t require a vacation. Try:
10-minute body scans
Lying down between sessions/tasks
Screen-free lunch breaks
Intentional stillness before bed
3. Somatic Rest
Activities that calm the body:
Pilates or gentle stretching
Breathwork
Float therapy
Weighted blankets
Nature sitting
(As someone who integrates movement and mental health, I often remind clients that restorative movement counts as rest.)
4. Decolonizing Your Schedule
Audit your calendar:
What is obligation vs. alignment?
Where are you over-functioning?
What can be postponed, delegated, or declined?
Rest Is Not the Opposite of Healing—It Is the Pathway
One of the most powerful shifts clients experience is realizing:
They don’t need more discipline. They need more restoration.
Healing requires energy.
And energy requires rest.
Final Reflection
If you find yourself feeling chronically tired, emotionally stretched, or quietly resentful of constant productivity demands, I encourage you to explore the work of Tricia Hersey.
Rest Is Resistance: Free Yourself from Grind Culture and Reclaim Your Life is not just a book—it is an invitation to reimagine your relationship with your body, your worth, and your pace of living.
Because in a world that profits from your exhaustion…
Rest becomes revolutionary.
If you’re interested in exploring burnout recovery, nervous system regulation, or redefining your relationship with rest, my practice offers individual psychotherapy sessions focused on sustainable wellness and emotional resilience.
Your healing does not require you to collapse first.