Rest is radical

Rest is radical: musings from a walk by the lake.

Went to the lake today to have some grounding time and realized how I was feeling sort of bad about doing that cause I have not "earned" it! :'D

That got me thinking how we operate in a system where the only ways you don't feel guilty about taking a moment of rest is when you have a) "earned it" by being productive for a long time or b) the rest comes with a promise of prolonged period of high productivity in the near future or c) you collapse and are no longer able to be productive without rest.

The capitalistic system which views all of us as mere resources has us so hard-wired that every single thing in life has to somehow trickle downs to productivity, or at least a promise of increased productivity. They call the small nap we take "power nap"! Where the objective of nap is to have more productivity afterwards! It is stifling to be in a system where one can't exist a moment without thinking about how it impacts their productivity - their worth as a worker bee.

I'd take my naps without power, thank you!  

Image Description: Photo of a page from a small sketchbook. It has a rough pencil sketch of a tree on it with some inscriptions made by black pen. The inscription reads: "A very healthy tree at lake shore boulevard. coming across it made me feel joyful. 15 May '24.  went to the lake today. I know it was good for me. But since it wasn't productive or have not resulted into productiveness, my brain is making me feel guilty and angry about it. very tired of living in this oppressive and punishing system."

_

Feel free to share your relationship with rest in the comments below :)
I'd love to hear.

- Parth.