Hustle culture is one of the most defining features of the modern world. The daily grind to be as productive as possible has morphed itself into the modern culture of the world. Everything in our lives, from our parents to social media have been pushing for us to work harder and be better. It isn’t long before we adopt this mentality ourselves. But how is hustle culture impacting our mental health as teenagers? And what can we do about it?
What is Hustle Culture?
Hustle culture is the newly emerged idea of working harder and harder to reach success. It is a logical thought, as putting in effort is the only way to get results in anything. However, it disregards the complexities of life, and how working hard isn’t the sole factor in becoming successful. Hustle culture’s ignorance to the reality of life is what makes it so deprecating to mental health, especially that of teenagers.
Burnout
Hustle culture has various effects on the mental health of an individual, which also influences the way they interact with others and the world around them. But accumulating all the affects, burnout is the ultimate consequence.
Burnout is the feeling of being fully exhausted of ideas, abilities, and energy. It results from overworking oneself physically and/or mentally, and leads to a severe lack of energy and motivation. Stress can cause burnout, but the overwhelming feeling with stress is different from the fatigued feeling with burnout.
Due to hustle culture, burnout is becoming more and more common. Intense jobs like nurses and doctors are often burnt out at much higher rates due to how demanding their jobs are. However, teenagers are also experiencing burnout much more than they should. A survey shows that nearly a ⅓ of American teens report feeling genuinely burnt out.
While burnout is devastating for people of all ages, it is especially damaging for teenagers. This is a time of immense growth, both mentally and physically, and skills and abilities should be improving, not depleting. The truth is, this immense growth also calls for immense attention, and the physical and mental attention required for healthy teenagers are ignored by hustle culture.
According to the Sleep Foundation, teenagers require 8-10 hours of sleep per day. However, with the time spent in school, extracurriculars, and homework, there is no time left for sleep. In fact less than 20% of teenagers actually hit their required needs for sleep. With hustle culture and school encouraging students to keep working to win their place in a top university or to land a high paying job, teens are unable to meet their needs for just sleep. With the amount of work and pressure teenagers are under, on top of not being able to meet their basic needs, it is no wonder they are burning out when they should have to.
Combatting Hustle Culture
Hustle culture has a chokehold on America and its education system, but don’t let it have one on you. As hard as it may seem, there are ways to fight the effects of hustle culture, and here’s how:
Get a Sleep Schedule
As we’ve already discussed, sleep is essential for adolescent development, as well as the health and energy of each individual. To fight the draining hustle culture, you can simply get a good sleep schedule. Make sure you sleep and wake up at a similar time each day, and for at least eight hours a day. It is very hard but not impossible, so put in the work to manage your time and sleep schedule.
Quality Over Quantity
Don’t try to do everything. It’s not how much you do that counts, it’s what you do. Don’t spend hours at a food drive for volunteering because you think that amount of time and energy you’ve sacrificed are going to count. Instead, do something impactful and meaningful to you. You may not even use that much time or energy to “hustle” for it, but it will be worth much more that wasting so much energy because hustle culture told you to.
Redefine Success
What does success truly mean? Because you think it’s money and cars, it really isn’t. Plenty of wealthy persons feel incredibly unsatisfied with their lives. Success is not, and never will be, monetary. No amount of wealth, fame, or followers will bring you success if you are not happy with yourself. Taking care of yourself, your self-esteem, and your mental health is the only way to ever feel successful and regretless in your life. Once you are happy with yourself and your life, success is bound to come.
Conclusion
The truth is, no matter how hard we try, we will be sucked into the blackhole of hustle culture. With social media shoving these ideas of “success” down our throats and schools making it seem like your future is based on how many hours you put in. However, you have to fight it, and live your life without draining yourself. Understand your capabilities and your limits, prioritize your mental health, and do what makes you happy, not what society thinks will bring you that monetary success. Hustle culture will try to drain your joy, but it’s up to you to keep it from doing that.
