The Toxicity of The Hustle Culture and Why We Should Stop Romanticizing It

From the moment we wake up until we sleep, we are in a constant rush. We’re running, chasing, and multitasking because we were told that ‘the grind should never stop’. During a short break on your social media, you come across those motivational speakers screaming at you from behind the screen to ‘work hard’, and ‘hustle’, telling you that to achieve your dream, there is no time for a break. 

This notion of the ‘hustle culture’ has become deeply embedded in our minds, and the more you see or hear people talking about it, the more you feel behind the line, late, unaccomplished, and sometimes even a failure. 

 

The Hustle Culture is more of a Burnout Culture

In a culture that praises and encourages workaholism and shames taking breaks, we dropped everything in life for the sake of work. We barely sleep, make no time for family and friends, and don’t take some time to slow down the race and catch our breath. The scary part is that we feel it is totally fine to just leave our lives behind in pursuit of something we believe is more worth it. It has become so normalized and romanticized to the point that if we don’t do the same, then we are not as good as everyone else. As the hustle keeps going, we then reach a point where we are burnt out, physically, emotionally, and mentally, unable to cope and puzzled ‘where did we go wrong here?’

 

Hustling is counterproductive

At that point, stress has taken over our lives, and we are no longer able to function properly. We’ve also built a sense of unhealthy competitiveness with everyone around us triggering an unsettling urge to be constantly working. However, we end up getting fewer things done than we used to because of the lack of sleep and anxiety crawling over every bit of our existence. We realize then, when it is rather late, that we lost touch with ourselves, with our loved ones, and with everything around us. Trust us, it is never a happy ending here.

 

It is time we encourage the ‘Break Culture’

We think that taking a break hinders our process of moving forward towards our goals, while in fact, taking breaks is necessary to recharge and get that good push more energetically and motivated. Humans are not made to work 24/7, it is simply against how our bodies operate. We think that non-stop work will take us up the ladder, but eventually will fall down. The ‘hustle culture’ will not benefit you or even your employers in the long run when you are too drained to do even the basics of your job. What we need to do is slow down the race and create our own version of success, reached at our own pace. Set boundaries, maintain a work-life balance, and don’t believe everything you see on social media. Don’t compare your journey to others, make yours unique, one that is a perfect fit for you.