By Zarina Ahmad, Co-Director, Wen
What does it mean to rest, as the world feels so heavy? This year, I’ve found myself asking that question again and again. Everywhere we turn, there’s another crisis tugging at our attention, from rising far-right rhetoric to threats against trans rights, from global violence to the everyday pressures of simply trying to make ends meet. And for those of us committed to justice, especially through an intersectional feminist lens, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless, and exhausted.
Feminism teaches us that the personal is political. Which means our burnout isn’t a private weakness or something to “push through”, it’s a signal of the systems we’re challenging, systems built to extract, exhaust, and keep us running on empty. Rest, then, becomes more than recovery. It becomes a way of saying: we refuse to be used up.
This year, I learned, again, that slowing down is not softness, but strategy. The community gardeners tending community plots at the Limborough Hub taught me that. The women in our Soil Sisters programme teach me that. And our Climate Sisters, especially the new groups taking root in Scotland and the North West, remind me of that. Watching the team establish, grow, and support each other has been a genuine joy. Their work is a reminder that we don’t have to act from a position of scarcity or pessimism. We can build abundance, creativity, solidarity, and power collectively.
Every seed planted, every shared meal, every circle of care reminds us that lasting change is held not only by urgency, but by rest, reflection, and connection. Rest is how we remain rooted in this work, and how we return with renewed energy, clarity, and the strength of one another behind us.
So as the year slows down, I hope you can carve out even a small pocket of stillness. A moment to breathe. A moment to remember that you are part of something bigger – a movement imagining and building a fairer, safer, more just, sustainable world.
Thank you for walking alongside us through 2025. May rest be possible, and may it strengthen you for all that’s ahead.
Zarina Ahmad, Co-director, Wen
Zarina is an expert in equalities and climate change, increasing participation of under-represented groups in environmentalism. She was named as one of the top 30 influential women contributing to the environment and sustainability by BBC Woman’s Hour.
