Finding Balance, the art of rejecting the side hustle culture

Recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that the female centric, side hustle, girl boss, career focussed social media revolution is frankly, harmful. 

There seems to be this ongoing narrative to embrace the grind, own the hustle and that is where success lies. That being busy correlates with being important or popular.

There are snappy one liners and catchy phrases dropped onto trendy backgrounds, eagerly pushing us forward, playing in to our insecurities.

Getting caught up in this social media snow storm is tough. There is always an image of someone more successful, working harder, looking more glamorous, drinking a larger coffee with a bigger organiser.

Lets talk about these coffee cups for a moment – Even these new, large, outlandish, coffee mugs, with their large handles, bright pink design, feed into this image. They portray status, hustle, the need for the large drink, the busyness – no longer do we have the time to sit, to ponder, to just have a drink. 

The rhetoric of time is money glares up at us, but may I argue, that time, our time is far more valuable to be quantified as money.

Is this the new feminist wave – moving from the women need to do it all narrative to the women need to hustle. 

If we are too busy embracing the hustle, are we too busy to look up and ensure we are defining our own terms for success. 

I urge you, to go for coffee, to sit, to ponder, to think, to perhaps even pray, what are the terms with which we measure success in our own lives? It may not be found in the side hustle.