Hustle Culture, Productivity, Capitalism, and Consumerism

Rising hustle culture, maximizing productivity, surging capitalism, increasing consumerism — we are constantly becoming a slave to these man-made ecosystems and I am sick and tired of even thinking about it

Growing up in an environment where we did not get to experience abundance that much but more of so much pain and sacrifice, I feel like I have surrendered myself to this hustle culture so that I can get all the things that my younger self was not able to get.

We are being told that we should be productive so that we can get more work done with less allocated resources. Which I guess is also the lie that society tells us. Because we really never get to rest and be able to do more, achieve more, and get more of the things we love. Time to be spent with loved ones and even with ourselves is gradually decreasing.

We are becoming productive for the sake of others. For the system, for the society, and not for ourselves.

Capitalism and consumerism are also the enemies of our inner peace as these always create a constant comparison, competition, and consumption of things for materialistic desires. Being ambitious and having desires are necessarily not bad at all — these became worse if we do this for the sake of winning this rat race that society has set for us.

Big companies might have given us fantasies, brands might have given us the feeling of luxury, and products, and services might have given us extreme comfort — but do we exactly need them? Everything at the same time?

I have always been searching for the right balance of me being able to contribute to something, being able to have authority with my resources, and being able to make use of the knowledge and creativity I have built up over the years.

I would like to be able to have the freedom of my time and place, to be able to choose what to do and who am I going to work with.

Some might say my problem sounds like a first-world problem — but I do not really care anymore how people will label how I think and how I feel. It’s nothing new to me anymore to have people constantly judging me.

Anyhow, I wish myself healing and peace of mind and to be able to focus on what matters — which is my health, my values, and my dignity which are my non-negotiables

….

After watching Katherout’s YouTube video “ I am in recovery after 20 years as an insecure overachiever”, gave me another slap on my face about the sad reality of the world -

“You are not given all that you’re worth, you create so much more than you are valued for at your company”.

It was a hard pill to swallow. All my life, I have attached my worth to the outcome of my work but at the end of the day, you are not valued much as how you would have wanted to be valued. Being a busy bee as nature, I finally put an end to this hustle culture mindset that I made in my head. I finally put an end to attach myself too much to productivity.

It might be very difficult to fight the system such as capitalism and consumerism, but I am doing things in my own way even as little as I can so that I won’t have to actively participate in this system that society has created. It’s little as buying items from second hand rather than buying brand new ones, buying coffee from local cafes rather than from the big chain stores, and not giving in to the idea of unnecessarily upgrading lifestyle.

I might not be able to live the radical minimalist lifestyle, living off the grid and escaping to the mountains to live a simple life, but at least I am aware that corporate giants are manipulating us to buy and consume more — which will require us to work more, earn more and spend more without recognizing its detrimental cost. I would love to reject this idea as well to protect myself from being exploited — physically, mentally, and emotionally.

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Originally published at https://erinne0217.wordpress.com on July 11, 2022.