What Is Radical Rest?
Or: Learning More About My Deeper Rest Needs
Image Description: A sleeping furry cat face that is white with light brown stripes pushes their whiskered nose out from a cave of thick white blankets resting on a soft white bed.
I have known for years that I needed more rest, that my nightly sleep was not truly restorative. Over time I could feel myself slowly sinking down a hole of exhaustion and fatigue, a place where my thoughts grew fuzzier, words evaporated from my head, and memories disappeared into mist (even the medical community recognizes this “brain fog” and the connection to autoimmune conditions). It has been a losing battle, this fight with fatigue. And I knew it, but didn’t have the tools to address the underlying issue: never getting enough rest.
Revelations from Pacing
A few years ago I learned about the concept of pacing, or managing my activity and rest in response to cues from my body (like increased heart rate and decreased energy). Subsequently, I began using a device to monitor my energy and exertion. First, I discovered that I was using up more energy than I thought throughout the day and that my feeling of exhaustion could be validated by science. Then I learned that I could lessen my fatigue by reducing activities and taking strategic rests.
It was mind-blowing, but also not enough. Although I experienced modest improvements in my fatigue levels there were still serious energy costs from full time work, including the stress that came from it. It wasn’t just the hours and the responsibilities. It literally disturbed my sleep, ate at my energy (showing up in extended heart rate climbs during work hours), and negated most of the gains I could make by other adjustments in schedule and lifestyle.
Discovering Radical Rest
Recently, I have been learning more about the concept of radical rest from others in the disability community. It involves physical (little to no exertion), emotional (preserving emotional energy), mental (reducing stressful thoughts), and social (reducing socializing or social interactions) forms of rest without a specific expected outcome. It means resting completely with the purpose being at rest, and nothing else. It is a reaction to burnout, but also to disabling conditions that worsen with the depletion of energy or the stresses brought on by society.
Chloe Johnson wrote a revealing essay about her discovery and exploration of radical rest:
“For the disabled community, and marginalised groups at large, it’s less about that 4pm nap, and more about taking up space – radically existing, without contingencies. Prioritising rest where we can and encouraging the same in others is fuelled by a dream of living in a world where resting without repercussions is not just an option for those with the privileges to do so.”
Pushing Instead of Resting
One of my favorite Substacks, The Disabled Ginger, wrote an excellent piece on the topic and how “pushing through” is harmful for people with disabilities:
“Unfortunately for us - the more we push ourselves the sicker we get. We are not the people who can stay up all night and then expect to have regular levels of function the next day. Lack of sleep and restorative rest can drastically alter our baseline.”
This completely resonated with me and how my continuing lack of rest was eroding my health and well-being on many levels. Even after so many years of considering myself a disability advocate, I was afraid to claim the rest that I needed. I felt the pressures to conform, to show up while feeling crummy, to fake a smile through pain, and all the things I did to push, push, push beyond what my body needed and could ultimately do.
“Learning to rest - to really and truly rest - is one of the hardest things a chronic illness patient has to do. I would argue it’s right up there with mindfulness in terms of the most useful skills to help accommodate living with a severe illness - but it does not come easy. And that’s ok.”
Learning to Rest
As my personal story and quest for rest has revealed, it is not an easy thing to do in our society. Even with carefully tracking, pacing, and adjusting my activities I was unable to get enough rest while working full time and my body suffered increasingly for it. After the last several months of increased rest and flexibility (such as listening to the signs of my body to get more rest, or even canceling plans to catch more rest), I still do not feel restored — but see hopeful signs of progress.
My extreme need for rest is connected to my lifelong chronic illness, increasing disability, and accrued over many years of pushing my exertions beyond my actual capacity. But I think many of us can relate to feeling exhausted and just plain worn down. It’s time for a deeper assessment of resting as a practice and the benefits it can bring to our quality of life.
Learn more and join a community dedicated to radical rest.
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I was always a “lark” (getting up early to finish papers in college) not an “owl” who could stay up, functioning till the wee hours whether for studying or parties. I became a single mother in my 40s and was always exhausted..,but when that continued when my son went off to college, I finally got tested at a Sleep Center. I have severe sleep apnea and testing 5 years later also found “paradoxical insomnia” treated withe two prescription meds a half hour before turning out the lights. Now I don’t “wake briefly” 100+ times a night when I stop breathing for a few to many seconds at a time (because CPAP prevents that) and actually get to deep REM sleep because of meds. It’s a new life…if only I had done this years earlier 🙂
I had a lightbulb moment while I was reading this. When I was younger, I just thought I was an "old lady" because I didn't like going out all night or doing any kind of exertion and then having to get up the next day for school, work, etc. I thought it was just a personality quirk, but of course it wasn't. It's because I'm disabled! My body needs more time to recover. You make such great points here. Even if we're good at "taking it easy", there's so much more than that when it comes to the true, radical rest we need.