From Grinding to Soft Living

YOU’VE HUSTLED. YOU’VE GRINDED. YOU’VE STUDIED PRODUCTIVITY HACKS AND LEARNED NEW SKILLS IN THE PURSUIT OF YOUR GOALS. YOU’VE SACRIFICED REST, FUN, AND HEALTH FOR ACHIEVING MORE AT WORK. BUT HAVE YOU STOPPED TO ASK YOURSELF IS THIS REALLY WORTH IT? IF YOU’RE FEELING MISALIGNED WITH LIVING THIS WAY, KEEP READING TO LEARN ABOUT A NEW WAVE OF THINKING THAT MAY LIBERATE YOU FROM THE HAMSTER WHEEL OF LIFE

- PRIYANKA ACHARYA

You may not have heard about “Soft Living” yet, but it is a phrase that you will certainly come across soon if you are a user of social media. Originated in the Nigerian influencer community, this idea is a cultural swing in the opposite direction from the grind mentality that has heretofore prevailed. First, let’s do a recap of hustle culture so that we can understand how soft living works as an antidote to it.

Capitalism will always result in hustle culture, but the intensity and reach of this culture grew with the popularity of both social media and reality television. These media showed everyone levels of luxury to which normally only the one percent was privy. Naturally, this raised the bar for what we aspired to be/own/ achieve. Once upon a time, plane travel itself was a luxury, a cool thing to be able to afford. But watching influencers vlog about first class or seeing the Kardashians fly private everywhere now made an economy ticket seem like small potatoes. Likewise, the names Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik may have been recognisable from Sex and the City, but few had ever considered actually purchasing a pair until they saw Instagram accounts grow exponentially from posting unboxing videos of such designer goods.

And along with every fancy flight, holiday, and designer purchase, these influencers were spouting gyan about how they were able to get to this level by hustling their butts off. This went beyond influencers, with entrepreneurs and employees alike wearing busyness and burnout as a badge of pride. Thus arose the following unofficial credo of the last decade:

You can get anything you want if you work hard enough.

You should want the best of everything.

You should monetise any hobbies and passions you have to achieve peak productivity.