Reclaiming the right to rest
We have always named the impetus for our annual sabbatical as an opportunity for collective rest. It is also a way to honor the invisible labor that women do in the workplace and in our family structures. We contend with this by actively intertwining rest in the fight to dismantle the systems that threaten our survival. In politicizing rest, we are able to acknowledge the role that power and privilege plays in shaping differing access to rest:
“If you’re waiting on white supremacy to tell you to slow down, that will never happen. Grind culture is a collaboration between white supremacy and capitalism.”
In 2020, our founding team made some observations about how we were showing up at work. We were a team of all women, mostly women of color, and had already implemented unlimited PTO practices. When we looked at our team’s PTO data, we found that we were averaging only 7 days of vacation time over the course of a year. Because our team has high levels of compassion and empathy, no one wanted their vacation to mean more work for the rest of the team.
As a small, fledgling organization - everyone was conscious of how their time off might affect the next person. It was important to be able to show up for each other, and the work, as caring + compassionate collaborators.
We live in a society where grind culture prevails and you are rewarded for not resting. As a result, many of us have internalized the tenants of white supremacy work culture that equate productivity to self-worth, glorify stress and normalize burnout. It is difficult to make time for rest under the capitalist systems that shape our experiences of injustice and inequality. Historically marginalized communities in particular have long endured trauma and oppression that has inhibited them from establishing healthy rest habits and wellness practices. The effort and energy that it takes to continue to show up while carrying the burden of past and present-day racial oppressions was echoed in our conversations as a team.
In realizing that we were trying to protect and care for each other by not taking time away from work, we decided to pause all of our work - together. We committed to implementing a sabbatical in September 2020 and started learning about how to operationalize the practice.
Our rest is less a response to capitalism and white supremacy culture (WSC), and more of an embrace of what is possible if we choose each other and ourselves. If we protect our rest and reflect on it together, what can that unlock for us as WOC leaders? In our current culture, we often focus on productivity and outcomes, without centering our collective humanity and welcoming complexity. At Beloved Community, we are interested in how rest makes you more compassionate and allows you to connect with people as people more deeply. What does it mean to feel rest in your body? What can rest do for the ways that you show up for yourself and others? How does it unlock your ability to dream and create with abundance? There is so much available to us if we slow our brains and bodies down.
Below, Beloved Community Founder and CEO Rhonda J. Broussard shares our sabbatical story with COO Stephanie Taylor:
