Happy New Year. How are you feeling? Refreshed after the winter break? Full of energy for the year ahead? Well-rested? If so, congratulations. Seriously, that is a rare and note-worthy achievement. Go forth with your energy and use it wisely, it is precious.
But maybe you’re not feeling all that. Maybe you’re actually feeling pretty tired after the social, logistical and emotional demands of the holiday season. Maybe the exhaustion was creeping in even before you opened the first door of your advent calendar a month ago and the festive celebrations have not done the trick in shifting it. Maybe you are feeling somewhat energised for the new year but it’s of the insistent, restless kind that wouldn’t let you relax even if you could find the time. The busy kind of energy. The “our world is falling apart at the seams so there’s no time to waste” kind of energy.
Doesn’t sound particularly well-rested, if you ask me. Super relatable, for sure, but not particularly well-rested.
For the past few years I’ve had some questions floating around in my head. Questions that tend to start off being just about me, or my mum, or my friend, and very quickly spiral into being societal, systemic, global questions. Honestly, watch how quickly it happens:
How come I’m so exhausted? How come I’m always so exhausted? Why is it so difficult to rest? Was I ever taught how to rest? Does the world not want me to rest? Does the world want anyone to rest? Is it because resting isn’t lucrative? Is capitalism fucking us all over yet again? Is this easier for some people? I guess that means it’s harder for some people too? And what about how it affects the world around us? If we all just rested a bit more, or did it better (what does that mean?), would the world be better off? If so, how do we do it?
Okay, yes, in a state of exhaustion one does arrive at “rest will solve everything for everyone everywhere” impressively quickly. But, real talk, maybe as this shiny blue marble of ours hurtles through space in the new year of 2023, maybe we are all in a collective state of exhaustion.
Honestly, I can’t be sure. But I do know one thing. I am shattered. And I want some answers. Subscribe to this fortnightly newsletter. I cannot promise you answers, but I’ll do my best to offer some other bits and bobs that may start to point us in the vaguely more hopeful direction. To start us off, I’ll mostly be sharing more about all the questions we have going into this project and how we intend to confront them. Then, once we warm up a little, we’ll share:
Snippets from interviews with rest experts
Stories from radical resters
Insights from rest researchers
Some restful nuggets I come across that might help you too
Rest well, friends.