This is America

 I know I’m not the only one cognizant of the declining empire that is the U-S-A.

This isn’t about promoting divisiveness.

This is about one’s own autonomy steeply declining in the name of geopolitics.

The bandwagoning effect of people who don’t ask all the questions and make it about red vs. blue, democrats vs. republicans, is what’s wrong with this broken system. A system intentionally pitting people against each other so we don’t achieve self-actualization. So we’re so mired in misanthropy we don’t even feel the rug being pulled from beneath our feet....

Hustle Culture

Nowadays, the anti-hustle culture rhetoric has permeated in social media forums and real-time conversations alike. 

People now refuse to glorify working 25/7. It's unhealthy, they say. It's toxic, they add. Work-life balance is key!--they protest.

The part that confuses me about the anti-hustle culture rhetoric is that it can seemingly smother a culture that is still rooted in deep mental health and addiction issues. Saving dogs and plants, posting your latest kale salad and oat latte recipe, stretching and meditating for the Gram, and criticizing others for failing to make the same priorities in their lives and lifestyles has become the norm. 

We have found ourselves in a society where one-upsmanship does not so much revolve around working ungodly hours, anymore, but about working on out-me-timing others. Pictures of cars and lavish trips are now replaced with content surrounding massages, candles, yoga, meditation, climbing rocks, and similar "me-time" activities. 

Indeed, perhaps the society that is promoting the work-life balance rhetoric is also creating a society devoid of professional responsibility and financial accountability. I agree that the hustle culture mentality can potentially be toxic to one's physical and mental health---but so is glorifying a lifestyle that may not be attainable or sustainable for others. Imagine being depressed because you can't have your massage today. Imagine feeling lesser-than because you couldn't make your instagrammable Zion hiking trip that you've been planning outfits for the past few months.

Telling a working professional who strives to achieve to provide for themselves and their family that what they're doing is wrong and too-much work, is like telling someone who is a Coachella fanatic to stop attending music festivals, because it's too-much fun and play. 

Too much mental healthy goodness rhetoric, can also be toxic. Because it's unintended effect can be attempting to rework or rewire another's brain and shame them on what they're apparently doing right or wrong. 

Perhaps this is why the candidates I interview at my firm take their phone interviews at the coffee shop--because coffee is life and takes priority over making a good, professional impression to your future employer. That oat milk latte better have been worth it, Ashley!

Every person's definition of ambition and professional/life success is different. It has to be. My definition of work and play ought to be different than yours--unless one of your favorite pastimes is blogging and talking shit about the anti-hustle culture rhetoric, too. 

Consider the fact that a lot of people around you are a product of immigrant parents and guardians who hustled and worked ungodly hours to provide a better life for their kids. Perhaps we simply repeat what we know, we're hardwired to. And perhaps, identifying our own mental health issues makes us realize that it's not all about work. Now we have the resources and money to understand that sometimes you just have to live a little. But, at what cost?

Anyway, I'll end here. I'm late for my weekly facial.