‘Nap Bishop’ Tricia Hersey wants us to end grind culture in 2025 with her revolutionary book ‘We Will Rest!’
Tricia Hersey's "We Will Rest! The Art of Escape" is the personal manifesto you need to approach 2025 with the right mindset.
In today’s world, rest often feels like a luxury. But Tricia Hersey, a theologian, poet, and performer widely praised for her Instagram account, “The Nap Ministry,” insists that rest isn’t something you have to earn or spend money on.
It’s just one part of the revolutionary message she delivers in her new book, “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape.” The second book from the New York Times bestselling author of “Rest Is Resistance” offers fresh and honest takes on why grind culture is harmful to us all.
The premise of Hersey’s latest book, “We Will Rest!,” is that becoming an escape artist is essential for survival in a capitalistic society and an act of necessary resistance. “The first step for morphing into an escape artist is belief,” Hersey writes. “You must believe you have the power to refuse. You must believe you have been gifted with everything necessary. You must be a trickster.”
Dedicated in part to Harriet Tubman, Hersey’s book builds on the historic African American tradition of escape artistry, a skill our ancestors used to outwit enslavers and other exploitative forces. In one chapter, Hersey recounts the hilarious and brilliant story of Henry “Box” Brown, an enslaved Black man in Virginia who, fed up with slavery, shipped himself to freedom in a box to reach Philadelphia in 1849. Brown’s ingenuity and his ability to expose the absurdity of the rules governing human freedom embody the legacy we inherit today.
Much like Brown, Hersey challenges readers to identify ways they can quietly escape systems that are slowly killing them. The physical copy of “We Will Rest!” is itself a work of art. Its regal purple cover, adorned with gold highlights, is soothing, while the pages feature artistic renderings of Hersey resting alongside her words, poems, and reflections.
This year, when faced with choices like skipping a doctor’s appointment to work longer hours or avoiding cooking healthy meals because of a packed schedule, Hersey urges us to choose ourselves every time. While this may defy societal expectations, ruffle feathers, or even seem like it hinders financial success, Hersey suggests this rewiring can save our souls.
In an era where the wellness industry is valued at $6.3 trillion, self-care has become big business. While many products and retreats may be well-intentioned, Hersey reminds us that rest and escape are free. They are also acts of political resistance — ones that may become even more vital in the months ahead. Like those who came before us, true resistance in 2025 may lie in creating a body and mind that feel like a sanctuary—a place of retreat when the world demands too much.
To learn more about “We Will Rest! The Art of Escape” or catch Hersey live on her remaining tour stops, visit The Nap Ministry’s Instagram account.
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