REST!

July is recognized as BIPOC Mental Health Month.  As a public health practitioner, I am inclined to share some statistics, and you are probably expecting them.  However, I shared a plethora of statistics in May.  This time around I want to talk about rest.

I am very familiar with all the reasons why rest is important and the many benefits.  Adequate rest promotes mental health, boosts creativity, increases productivity, reduces stress, and promotes well-being.  Resting also allows for the body to heal and boosts your immune system.  However, having knowledge of the benefits of rest does not mean I am good at it.  Y’all I struggle!  More often than not when I am attempting to rest I am also thinking about what I could be doing or should be doing.  In other words, I often feel guilty for resting.

There are many different reasons for my struggle, some internal and others driven by external factors.  For example, internally I fear falling behind.  My personality already does not fit with the hustle culture so I naturally feel like I am always a few steps behind.  Taking any time to rest makes me feel further behind.  Externally, growing up in a black southern family rest was viewed as a luxury we could not afford.  Taking regular extended vacations was not something we were able to experience until I was in high school and even then we were visiting family or traveling for church.  I was a full grown adult when we started to travel as a family.  My grandparents were sharecroppers and worked the land.  Rest was not a familiar concept.  Additionally, money was tight, and spending it on “frivolous” activity was not justifiable. 

In order to protect and promote my mental health I am having to reframe my perspective.  I am learning to view the opportunity to rest as a gift and a blessing.  You see, my ancestors did not have the space to rest as they were forced to work from before sun up to after sundown.  They were worked to death while literally building this nation.  I will not say “great” because we are nowhere near great, but I digress.  Either way, the trauma they experienced has been passed down to me and is embedded somewhere in my DNA and in order to break the generational cycle I must relearn some things.

I am inclined to believe that the way capitalism is set-up they want us to buy into the lie that we still cannot afford to rest.  It is one of the tactics they use to keep us enslaved.  They pay us below what we are worth so that we have to work to survive.  They offer minimum paid time off (PTO), sick leave, and parental leave so that we have to continue working even though we are ill or burnt out.  Lastly, they have us buy into the hustle culture by saying we are falling behind if we are not working around the clock.  This month as we celebrate BIPIC Minority Mental Health month, I am going to honor my ancestors by doing what they were not allowed to do.  I am going to REST and be intentional with my rest!  Regardless of what my paycheck says I have learned my value and I am worth way more than the mere thousands I am paid.  So I am reclaiming my time, as our dear Auntie Congresswoman Maxine Waters encouraged us to do.  I am going to rest.  I have let my job know to prepare the others (PTO) because I will be out of office (OOO).  I am going to pull a reasonable amount from my savings because I am blessed enough to have a small saving albeit meager, and I am going to wine and dine myself in reasonable luxury.  Lastly, I will no longer allow corporate entities to “pick my brain” and glean from my experiences as a black woman.  You want access? Run me my money!  Periodt!!    

There are many things to be said about mental health in the BIPOC community, but one thing that is universal is that we need rest! So I encourage you to plan some time to rest this month.It doesn’t have to be extravagant just makes sure it works for you!It is okay to not be okay and it is okay to rest!