On Thursday evening, author and speaker Tricia Hersey shared her practice of destigmatizing self care and sleep to a crowd of students and community members in Moulton Union’s Main Lounge. Sponsored by the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Center (SWAG), the Edith Lansing Koon Sills Fund and the Society of Bowdoin Women, Hersey’s talk covered her personal experiences while invigorating the audience to create their own restful practices.

Hersey grew up in the South Side of Chicago and spent a lot of time in her community’s Black church. With spiritual ideas from years of religious preachings in collaboration with her education and beliefs, Hersey saw herself well-positioned to de-stigmatize self care and sleep.

“I believe that so many things can be worked out in our dreams,” Hersey said. “And if we could go into the portal that wrestling [with our dreams] provides, there’s so many neurological things that can happen, but I also believe that there is [an] ancestral connection that can happen.”

It was only after stepping away from academics and religious work that she was affiliated with that Hersey found her passion for rest activism and started her organization, The Nap Ministry.

“When I started the work … I was just sleeping on the couch every day. I was so exhausted from [my] seminar. I was burned out. And I was just having these dreams [about] my grandmother,” Hersey said. “The name of the organization came to me. I said, ‘I don’t want a name in reparations. I’m going to sleep for them.’”

Founded in 2016, The Nap Ministry is an organization advocating for rest as a form of reparations and a pathway to ancestral connection. In 2022, Hersey published her book, “Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto,” on the topic. The book quickly became a New York Times bestseller, accompanied by a Rest Desk of 50 cards to promote resetting.

Hersey’s advocacy took off during the pandemic through an Instagram account, and shortly after, she knew she needed to write her manifesto to continue influencing through the written word.

“I love manifestos, as a person who loves history. I love the art of them,” Hersey said. “So it was a manifesto because to me, a manifesto creates something and offers something that isn’t already here. It brings something to the culture in a new way that they can hold onto forever.”

Hersey argues that one doesn’t have to go on a “wellness retreat to Bali” to experience deep rest. In fact, she feels those types of trips are often racist, ableist and classist, excluding many groups of people. As she says, “No one has to pay to rest.”

“I [got] into adding the actual daydreaming activation while teaching people what it means to be endangered, what it needs to collectively sit in the space and be able to use daydreaming techniques, soft fascination and breathing,” Hersey said.

Assistant Director of Student Wellness Programs and Coordinator of Wellness Outreach Kate Nicholson was in attendance and reflected how her role on campus affects students’ ability to rest.

“Our office cares deeply about practices of wellbeing that stem from a place of true dignity. We acknowledge the tension when we live within systems that are complex [and] messy,” Nicholson said. “We’re grateful for [Hersey] and all who helped us bring her work and this conversation to us.”

Elle Williams ’26 was excited to find a moment in her week to listen to Hersey’s messages, which she deeply resonated with and hopes to embody.

“I’m an Environmental studies and Africana [studies] major, and it feels like there’s so much to do all the time,” Williams said. “But at the end of the day, if we’re all working ourselves to death, there’s gonna be nobody to do the work … I think the idea of rest as an offering to yourself really stuck with me. She’s just brilliant. I’m so happy I went. I think it was really worth it.”

Hersey is also hosting a Daydreaming Hour today at 1 p.m. on the Main Quad to help students put some of her ideas into practice.

Hersey implored the audience to remember the importance of rest.

“We are not resting to be more productive,” Hersey said. “We are [resting] simply because it is our divine right to do so.”