4. The Rest Resistance
The Rest Resistance
Sleep and rest become harder to access.
Urban Dawella is having a hard time sleeping. She feels like she’s been busier than usual and wonder if the rumors about rising HCT levels are true.
The residents of Sasstopia are starting to get restless. Urban Dawella cannot take another sleepless night. For the past few weeks, she’s been unusually busy at work, staying late, bringing work home and responding to emails at all times of the day. It has been very difficult for her to wind down at night with all that is going on in Sasstopia. She can’t even use the Dream Simulator to help her fall into a relaxing sleep. It has been glitching and no one seems to know why. Of course, she hears the whispers of rising levels of HCT and remembers that the algorithms have been feeding more hustle culture content than usual. She wasn’t really impacted by that because she hasn’t been online much anyway. She’s starting to get worried about the growing concern with rising HCT levels and feels like no one in Sasstopia ever talked about what to do if this moment ever arose.
Danica Downloads from the Office of Ease meets with Mayor Tiggy and Mixin’ Mo of the Ministry of Mindset to discuss rising HCT levels.
As Sasstopians enter into another week of rising HCT levels, Mayor Tiggy starts to feel the pressure. This week, she met with Mixin’ Mo, Ministry of Mindset Chief and Danica Downloads from the Office of Ease. They don’t have good news. Danica informs Mayor Tiggy that things are worse than they thought. Mo chimes in to let Mayor Tiggy know that the rising HCT levels are impacting more than the algorithms, they are impacting sleep. This upsets Mayor Tiggy because rest is one of the many things in Sasstopia that the residents are able to do freely. They have shorter workdays and things shut down across the city at specific times so that people don’t feel the pressure to be outside all the time. They are even getting reports that the dream simulator is glitching, making it difficult for people to drift seamlessly off to sleep. She wants to contact the Council of Calm so that they can issue public rest advisories and she also wants to create a policy to mandate rest hours. She hates that they have to regulate the lives of Sasstopians, but feels like it is for the best.
Terumi and Diva Mosi of the Council of Calm meet with Karina to talk about issuing a rest alert.
Elsewhere in Sasstopia, Terumi and Diva Mosi, members of the Council of Calm, meet with Karina from the Office of Ease. Karina briefs the council about the rising sleeplessness in Sasstopia. Terumi is not feeling it. She is tired of people always coming for the lifestyle that they built in Sasstopia free of hustle culture antics that focus on keeping people burned out. Mosi agrees and submits the motion for mandatory rest hours. While Karina does believe it’s a good idea, she pushes back a bit out of concern for the optics of how Sasstopia will be viewed to hustle-adjacent communities. Terumi assures Karina that what happens elsewhere is not their concern and to contact Mayor Tiggy to set the mandatory rest advisory in motion.
Fangirl Frankie expresses concern about the supply of self-care serum.
Towards the end of the week, Mayor Tiggy visits the Wellness Ward because of an uptick in visitors shopping the local wellness stores. Danita, a resident, is feeling completely burned out and doesn’t know what to do. She wants to know if the rumors about rising HCT levels are true. She feels like she must keep up with all the hustle that everyone else is experiencing. Mayor Tiggy assures her that rest is not something to be earned. Meanwhile, Fangirl Frankie presses Tiggy about production and inventory. She is the owner of the Wellness Store and says that the self-care serum is selling out quickly, causing a strain on the workers at the manufacturing facility to keep up. They are being overworked which is, in turn, causing a rippling effect. Mayor Tiggy assured Danita and Frankie that rest is not optional in Sasstopia and that they are actively working to figure out the source of the rising HCT levels.
Seems like Mayor Tiggy is getting overwhelmed by the rising HCT levels and how quickly they are spreading. What do you think is going to happen next? What kind of decisions do you think Mayor Tiggy has to make? Want to be more intentional about resting? Download the Recharge Required worksheet to reflect on the things that are keeping you from getting good rest.
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