4 ways to slow down from hustling.
We live in a world where work consumes our day. It’s undeniably a pervasive element of our lives. However, we lack work-life balance because there’s a societal pressure to always stay busy. Due to this, hustle culture became normalized and glorified by society.
What is hustle culture? In simple terms, hustle culture means that you are constantly working. Although it is important to work for psychological, financial and emotional reasons, it’s not the only fragment to achieve a happy life. Slowing down is actually a critical component to your mental health, but unfortunately, that’s not promoted by proponents of hustle culture.
Attempting to counteract hustle culture may be uncomfortable for us, but sometimes it’s important to. Although there are beneficial components to hustle culture, it’s an unhealthy solution for our personal growth. Below we have outlined four ways you can slow down from the daily grind and give yourself the attention you deserve.
Allot some time for yourself.
Constantly being on the move can be genuinely exhausting. If you don’t prioritize your ‘me’ time throughout the day, you will burn yourself out. This is why allocating some time for yourself is paramount. It will not only allow you to unwind, but it will also give you the opportunity to recharge. What you do during this time isn’t actually important. It’s just important that you allot some time to slow down for your overall well being.
Recognize when you’re being manipulated by hustle culture.
There’s a major trend on social media these days- and that’s glorifying hustle culture. For example, YouTube is flooded with productivity content. LinkedIn is constantly permeated with one’s professional accolades. Instagram promotes a filtered version of someone’s stressful day. Constantly seeing this kind of content immerse our feeds takes a toll on your mental health. You start to question your self worth and engage in negative self-talk. You may even start to wonder whether you are doing enough in life. Eventually, you inherit insecurities about where you’re at in life.
It’s important to note that everything that glitters isn’t gold. The majority of people who constantly promote hustle culture don’t always follow their advice. It’s very deceptive. Furthermore, people tend to share their most noteworthy achievements, as opposed to their downfalls. Social media constantly promotes lifestyles that lack transparency, and a major fragment of that is hustle culture. Take what you see on social media with a grain of salt. Nobody is working 24/7. Everyone needs to recharge. So try your best to not allow misleading content manipulate your thoughts.
Realize that you shouldn’t feel guilty for slowing down.
Since we’ve recognized that social media perpetuates a false narrative about working all the time, now we should realize that feeling guilty for slowing down is totally okay. In life, no one is working 24/7. We all have moments where we need to recharge. However, by constantly seeing people work all the time (or at least claiming that they do), you might feel extremely guilty for slowing down. This is because you might inherently compare your life to the lives of others.
It’s important to note that people who constantly promote hustle culture typically don’t post content about slowing down. Just realize that taking breaks are vital and necessary for your mental health. In fact, if you don’t take breaks, you will completely burn yourself out. Therefore, it’s actually counterproductive if you don’t give yourself time to slow down. At the end of the day, it’s all about balance; and you should never feel guilty about embracing balance in your life.
Go to sleep.
This may sound like a comical tip, but it’s actually very valid. Lots of people neglect their rest. It’s important to get a sufficient amount of rest to give yourself enough energy for the next day. If you don’t, you’ll actually become more stressed, antsy, and disorganized. As we previously discussed, allotting time is super important. Thus, allotting an appropriate amount of time in your schedule to sleep is vital and give yourself a break from the daily grind.
“Set expectations for yourself that are not based on what you believe everyone else is doing.”
– Julie Hage