We’ve all heard the mantras about rising and grinding or that sleep is for the weak. Well, that’s the glorified hustle culture that motivates you to be productive. While it’s not entirely bad, it shouldn’t cost you your physical and mental well-being. This hustle culture becomes toxic when it champions burnout as commitment that it already equating your worth with output. Watch out for these 8 signs where hustle culture has officially broken you.
8. You’re Having Anxiety and Depression Symptoms
When you’re suspecting about the showing signs of anxiety and depression, then it’s best to check on yourself and consult a professional. It’s not surprising since hustle culture can harm mental health. How? It causes burnout due to work-related stress. It’s when you wake up feeling dreadful, and the thought of checking on your work inbox triggers intense anxiety. Beware, as these aren’t bad days anymore.
7. You’ve Lost Interest in Things You Used to Love
This is when hobbies feel like an obligation to you, just to tick them off on your to-do list. These are the activities that used to bring you joy but now seem pointless just because they don’t give you income. Hustle culture creates an unhealthy balance between work and your personal life, where you prioritize career success over everything else in your life.
6. You’re More Irritable and Emotionally Reactive
The common signs of burnout come from disengaging at work and emotionally distancing yourself from others. It’s also a sign that you’re being reactive as usual by easily snapping at your coworkers. Your system is speaking as it’s overloaded beyond its capacity. Meanwhile, your nervous system is in a constant fight-or-flight mode where everyone seems like a threat.
5. Your Productivity Has Actually Decreased
You notice that you’re working more hours than ever, but you’re accomplishing less. The tasks that took you 30 minutes before took two hours now. You also make careless mistakes you have never made before. Well, it’s your brain and body speaking that you’re already exhausted.
4. Your Health Is Deteriorating
You see, neglect of health comes when you prioritize productivity. You’re drowning in chronic fatigue and burnout, and your back hurts from hunching over your laptop. You’re also surviving on coffee and convenience food while being deprived of sleep. Expect that sickness would come rolling in if this is the new normal for you and your body.
3. Boundaries Have Completely Dissolved
Hustle culture can make your personal and professional boundaries blur since you find it difficult to set limits on your working hours and say “no.” That’s overworking, which you have already reduced the time from your personal life. You work beyond working hours, which is the toxicity of hustle culture, as it demands your availability all the time.
2. Rest Makes You Feel Guilty
You get a pang of guilt when you take the evening off, as toxic culture convinced you that sleep means you’re not serious about success. You get this belief that taking breaks is lazy or unproductive, and a weekend without checking your work notifications triggers anxiety. This guilt prevents you from recovering to the demands that you yourself have placed.
1. You’ve Forgotten What “Enough” Feels Like
While having big dreams for yourself is not bad, we sometimes blur these dreams with the success as defined by society. But ask yourself if it’s the definition of success to you. No matter how much you accomplish, the goal keeps moving, and you run off towards the next goal. After a long day at work, you’re not even sure if you made real progress. Yup, that satisfaction of achievement has been replaced with the anxiety of what’s next.