Get acquainted with the latest wellness movement: napping

"That girl"? She's girlbossed too close to the sun, babes. We're over green juice and 5am military workouts and instead embracing the soft life as we should. The phrase, which was first coined by influencers in Nigeria, means to prioritise ease and comfort - and it makes a lot of sense, we only have one life after all.

If you aren't yet a soft life convert, then you’ve probably heard of the concept of quiet-quitting: establishing firmer professional boundaries and only working to your minimum requirements (or, only doing the work that you are actually paid to do).

Collectively, it looks like we're learning to prioritise rest, care and joy and to decentre work as the be-all and end-all of our lives. But what to do with all that spare time? Well, there's a growing movement suggesting that you should be taking a nap, instead.

Introducing The Nap Ministry, a grassroots social-led advocacy group helping to spread the word about the power of rest. The organisation, which now amasses half a million followers on Instagram, started out when founder Tricia Hersey began giving advice on social media about taking care of yourself and your sleeping pattern while working. Like so many others, Hersey was swept up in grind culture - leaving her burnt out and unhappy. But when she placed more energy in ensuring she got sufficient sleep, her approach to wellness turned on its head.

Now its self-proclaimed Nap Bishop, Hersey is using The Nap Ministry to promote the benefits of both physical and mental rest - anything from taking essential day-time naps to literally taking time to stare into space. Last week, her debut book launched in the UK, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, which explores how the concept of rest has been wrongly distorted into ideas of laziness. “Grind culture has normalized pushing our bodies to the brink of destruction,” Hersey writes.

The solution? A work-life separation, and taking the time to listen to what your body needs. Hersey is working to reclaim the idea of rest, turning it into a health priority for people, rather than something to be ashamed of. The influencer has reached thousands of people worldwide, encouraging them to put their physical and mental wellbeing before any professional or social responsibility. The author even facilitates communal napping events around the US - inviting people to sleep next to strangers, usually accompanied by a carefully curated playlist, live harpist, or even a self-led sermon.