Recontextualising the Concept of 'Rest' Outside of Capitalism

Stop trying to be productive. We're better than this.

Author note: some of the journals referenced in this essay will be linked and don’t require special permissions to be accessed, unless cited information is available in the extract.

Thank you for being here! Teiresian is a tiny, independent press led entirely by trans artists & writers. A special thanks to our paid subscribers, who provide us with another stream of income to support future publications, from buying beautiful paper to print on to paying the trans artists we work with. You can become a paid subscriber from £3.50/month or £20/year, and in return you receive an extra essay every month. Alternatively, you can support us by buying our publications or making a one-off donation to our ko-fi.

---

How often have you heard the word ‘burnout’ recently? How about ‘fatigue’? ‘Brain fog’? These are words I see and hear now more than ever. Of course, we’re all tired, we’re all doing our best, all the time. Fizzling out is only natural when you’re putting your all into everything you do, but what then? The obvious answer is rest, but what happens when even the concept of rest is hijacked by the capitalist mindset? When even rest cannot exist by itself without the prerequisite that there is something substantial to gain? In this essay, I’ll argue that the language around rest and recovery has been manipulated to suit the capitalist ‘grind’ ideology, and the ways we can work towards seeing rest as a rejection of this.