Are You In The Cult of Urgency?
"We are divine and our rest is divine."
- Tricia Hersey, Rest is Resistance.
I was raised to have a strong aversion to rest. Saturdays were for sports, Sundays for church, and weekdays for school. The motto in our home was "Beals like to work hard." I am forever grateful for my parents' influence on my work ethic. AND, that same influence also instilled in me a deep distrust of leisure.
I coached a teacher who took naps during her second prep block. At first, I thought it was unprofessional. Then, I noticed that her lesson plans were outstanding. She was always on time to work, and her best classes were right after her nap. Instead of pretending to be productive, she prioritized something more worthwhile—rest.
Burnout and exhaustion are inherent features of living in a white supremacist culture and capitalistic society. We often feel guilty about taking rest, or judge those who take it as lazy.
Here are some signs you might be caught in the busyness trap:
Attending unnecessary meetings, or working to appear more scheduled than you really are.
Feeling guilty when things slow down and filling free time with trivial tasks.
Answering every email and text immediately and/or scrolling social media during any moment of down time.
If the list above sounds like you, I highly recommend Tricia Hersey's book, Rest is Resistance. I read it on the recommendation of one of our partners, Maya Stewart. Hersey suggests:
Disconnecting from the "cult of urgency." Rest is not failure.
Recognizing that rest is not a privilege we have to earn only after being burned out.
Understanding that exhaustion is counterproductive. Rest is an essential part of the work.
According to Hersey, rest can take various forms, such as:
Closing your eyes for ten minutes.
Taking a longer, silent shower.
Daydreaming while gazing out of a window.
Slow dancing with yourself to calming music.
Trying a sound bath or timed nap (check out our leaders above).
Enjoying a long, tech-free bath.
Taking extended breaks from social media.
Delaying responses to texts and emails.
Practicing deep listening by fully immersing yourself in a music album.
Remembering that rest is not a luxury or a reward. It is a vital component of our well-being and productivity.
American schooling is rooted in creating the next wave of workers to keep capitalism alive. Of course, the systems that contribute to burnout need a massive overhaul. Still, we often say to our leaders, "You are the they." When you step into leadership, you can no longer simply blame some other they, somewhere else. You have power within your locus of control to make a change.
Perhaps you can’t restructure the entire schedule, but you can end a meeting early and tell people to go lie on a couch.
Most importantly, you can model rest yourself. This summer, I’m taking an unheard of (for me) five weeks of vacation. I’m modeling and insisting on rest because we are worthy of it. If we burn out today, we’re losing tomorrow.
Bronte Velez asks, “How will you be useless to capitalism today?” How will you incorporate moments of uselessness into your school year? Write me back with some ideas. I hope you’re lying down when you do.
