My personal experience with hustle culture and how it has affected me this semester.
It’s the end of the semester for many of us. Final exams, huge projects, and grades are consuming our minds. The pressure to overachieve and perform is at an all-time high, and “hustle culture” is a way to prove we’re focusing, but when does it get unhealthy? How do we keep up with the deadlines, the constant hustle and bustle of college life, and most importantly, stay sane? Here is a glimpse of my experience this semester, and how hustle culture has affected me this semester.
What Hustle Culture Cost Me
This semester was jam-packed for me. Two portfolios for two different writing classes, three essays, and constant critiques and workshops for all of my courses were reminders of all of the things I had to do. I didn’t want to fail, and I surely didn’t want to slack off or fall behind in any of them. So, I made decisions I’d eventually regret, staying up all night working on a poetry portfolio, cramming the day before one of my exams, and waking up at the crack of dawn to begin writing an essay that was worth 50 percent of my grade.
I didn’t realize it then, but I was neglecting my relationships, more specifically, my family relationships, and it was taking a toll on my happiness and mental health. What was once an innocent “locking in” phase turned into restless nights and anxiety episodes, and it was making my life feel repetitive. I knew there was something greater than this, and throughout the semester, I picked up a few strategies that had helped me loosen the grip hustle culture had on me.
Strategies That Helped Me During The Semester
The strategies that helped me cope with the pressures of hustle culture in college were things that I had practiced before, but now I had to implement them more intensely.
One strategy that really helped me was doing short blocks of work and then taking a five-minute break. Being neurodivergent, I had to learn and deal with the fact that not every productivity hack on social media would work for me.
Sometimes I would overwork myself, but in the end, I adjusted my strategy, and things did begin to turn for the better.
Another tip that works for me is to make time for family and friends. I had neglected this part of my life since I was always doing schoolwork and stressing about doing well, but I realized self-care was important, and spending time with my loved ones would help me to be aware of the little things in my life, like spending time with my grandmother, who has ALS, and having quality time with my mother, brother, and sister.
Here are some other strategies that have helped me during this semester, during finals, and other assignments:
- The Pomodoro Method: 25-minute work blocks with 5-minute breaks in between
- Prioritize your most difficult classes: the harder the class, the more time you may have to dedicate to the assignments and work involved, but don’t stress yourself out too much!
- Switch up the location: Sometimes a change in environment helps break the cycle of procrastination and increases your motivation. I find this to work the most for me.
- Limit distractions: my phone and YouTube are big ones!
These tips and tricks have benefited me and helped me during this tough time of the semester.
Moving Forward
During the semester, I had a bunch of doubts in my mind about myself. As I studied and prepared for the projects and assignments that were due, I lost myself in the sea of responsibilities. Even though I knew life was much bigger than my grade point average, the label of being decent or mediocre plagued my mind, and I began to wonder if everything was still worth it.
Time was ticking, and the assignments were still there, but the anxiety softened as I told myself positive affirmations and took deep breaths.
I can do hard things. Everyone can, as long as you put your mind to what you’re doing and have grace upon yourself.
Shifting The Hustle Culture Mindset
Shifting the hustle culture mindset to a more soft, sustainable one comes with a lot of practice and repetition. I had to learn how to become more positive, or at least make negative situations more neutral, by saying positive affirmations and changing the way I speak to myself.
The hustle culture mindset that has leaked into academic spaces makes us neglect our sleep and self-care time, and in order to fix this way of thinking, we need to look at our priorities one by one and see what is making us stressed out. Is it the assignments, the amount of tests we have to study for, or is there a pile of academic and life responsibilities thrown together?
Aligning my priorities and changing the way I view school and life circumstances has helped me grow as a student and person. For example, I can’t change certain things that were going on in my life, like my grandmother’s illness, but I can change my approach by spending as much time with her as I can, while also working on my academic tasks bit by bit.
Room For Improvement
On the other hand, there’s always room for improvement. Even though hustle culture has a strong hold on our society, it’s our job to shift the idea of what it means to be a productive person.
Productive people don’t always have to be “on” 24/7. We don’t always need to have the highest grades or go to the most prestigious universities to feel worthy or like our work matters.
We are not perfect. As a perfectionistic student and workaholic, I know what it’s like to feel like whatever you do isn’t enough.
Aside from hustle culture, and aside from the pressures society has placed on us, we are humans at the end of the day.
Students and people are not machines. We can’t tire ourselves out by constantly trying to reach perfection, because there’s no such thing.
Reframing Success
Overall, hustle culture is something we can change. A lot of people are starting to embrace slowing down and redefining success on their own terms. Whether it’s work or academic success, the mindset of always working without taking care of ourselves is shifting, but the echo of hustle culture still lives on.
Through my personal experience this last semester, I’ve learned what it really means to take care of myself. It means nurturing my mind and body with things that would help me in the long run, like spending time with loved ones and putting my mental health first. From all of this, I’ve learned that I’m more than my grades and achievements.
Valuing our minds and mental health is the most important thing we can do, for ourselves and for society.
