All of culture is working in collaboration for us not to rest, and when we do listen to our bodies and take rest, many feel extreme guilt and shame. Embrace knowing that you have been manipulated and scammed by a violent system as powerful evidence.

Womanist theologian Emilie Townes beautifully shares the fullness of liberation as a process. In her article “Ethics as an Art of Doing the Work Our Souls Must Have” that appears in the anthology Womanist Theological Ethics: A Reader, she speaks about how distinct liberation and freedom are: “An important distinction must be made: liberation and

Fear and scarcity are a big part of how the culture keeps us bound up in the hamster wheel. Our own personal experiences and the continued reinforcement we receive from those around us paralyze us with disbelief. I was told repeatedly by employers, friends, teachers, politicians, and church leaders that life was for doing, hustling, and following a

There are more than two options. The possibilities are infinite, although living under a capitalist system is to be confronted with a model of scarcity. This space makes you falsely believe there is not enough of everything: not enough money, not enough care, not enough love, not enough attention, not enough peace, not enough connection, not enough

pay my bills and while still searching for work after spending almost

Capitalism was created on plantations. The roots of it are violence and theft. We as a culture gloss over this historical truth.

White supremacy thinking has taught us there is only a binary and the rigidity of this type of thinking keeps us available to the toxic systems, but unable to inhabit the divinity of our true selves. This is a time to simply stop and feel. A time to not force or attempt to make sense of what can and will happen when we allow our bodies to heal from

The developers and designers of our current platforms are not leaders of a billion-dollar industry simply so we can all stay connected to our family, friends, and communities. It is used for this successfully by many, but please remember it is not the goal for capitalists. The goal is to keep you scrolling long enough that you become a consumer.

Capitalism has cornered us in such a way that we only can comprehend two options. 1: Work at a machine level, from a disconnected and exhausted place, or 2: Make space for rest and space to connect with our highest selves while fearing how we will eat and live.