wayvy weekly //// [why rest?]
How important is rest? Often, we’re told to work hard, to go the extra mile and to generate value. But for who? And why? From the time the process of socialization begins, we’re taught to sit down and shut up, to deny ourselves our humanity in order to serve the greater collective good. We are not robots, no matter how much our corporate overlords would love that reality, and even they need to be powered off and tended to every once in a while.
Recently, I got sick (it wasn’t covid don’t worry) and rolled my ankle around the same time and the parallels between my internal structures and external structures were extremely stark. What was most interesting to me was that even after my ankle ‘felt’ better and I thought I could walk on it again pretty comfortably, I tried hooping and just ended up rolling it again. Was it overconfidence? Or perhaps simple ignorance that led me to rush my healing process. I’ll give you one more story.
During my first year of undergrad, I tried taking a computer science class. I failed the class. Despite my best efforts, I simply could not rewire my brain to understand these lines of code. So I went to see some Fast & Furious movie in theatres in lieu of going to my final. After this, I tried to ‘make up’ for my failure by taking a few summer classes. However, I had not sufficiently rested and recovered from the semester and only ended up digging myself further into a hole. Perhaps if I had taken that summer off and spread my efforts out a little more, I would have fared better. Either way, I am glad I learned those lessons when I did and am now able to pass them along.
“REST”
In this week’s wayvywork, REST, we see a perfect representation of what rest can look like in our current capitalist system. Work is a constant, but so is rest. If we allow it, the powers that be will extract all value from us and leave us little more than skeletons with the necessary organs for work. This is a double edged sword for the bourgeoisie as these living conditions can create incredible feats of strength, creativity and resilience as long as we do not identify with the material realities of our existence. Once we are able to harness our spirits (represented by the spraypainted wayvy in the centre) , work on our vocation with passion and excitement (represented by the red and black muscular structure on the skeleton) and keep our vision fixed firmly on the potential liberations of tomorrow (represented by the golden steps in the window with the clear sky as its backdrop) without losing sight of the inconvenient truths of today (represented by the dead corporate shill the skeleton sits on), we win. So let’s win this week. Together.
So, back to the initial question. Why rest? Rest because it is inherently part of the process of working hard. Overextension leads to injury, which is sometimes difficult to recover from. Do not be lazy, but doh work too hard. There will always be work to be done. And above all.
stay wayvy baby <3
