In today’s society, hustle has become rampant, especially with the standards set by influencers on social media. They tell you to “work hard and sleep less” if you ever want to make as much as they are making or get your dream life. While it is not wrong to have this kind of ambition, the hustle culture mentality is entirely wrong and leads you to burn out sooner than you think.

Putting your health, your sleep, and life down for ‘success’, especially as a woman, can be detrimental to your mental and physical health and can lead to burnout. As a woman, your body is wired differently, and because of this, you are at a high risk of expensing burn out faster when you believe and buy into the hustle culture.

The hustle culture glorifies overworking and rewards exhaustion. If you are not tired from work, then you haven’t done anything. This can lead to chronic fatigue, feeling like they aren’t doing enough, and feeling guilty about rest. You don’t need to be tired to rest. As long as you have done your tasks for the day and you have done something that puts you ahead, that is fine for you to rest and have your unwinding time.

Hustle culture pressurizes women more because they are expected to prove themselves more than men, and as a result, they often end up working twice as hard to achieve their goals. We are expected to ‘do it all’. Remove yourself from that kind of mentality and outsource when you can. Cleaning, driving, and employees at your business; whatever you can do that will take off the load from you.

You also have to take your biological cycle into account, which hustle culture ignores. Unlike men, who have a 24-hour cycle, women have a 28-day cycle. Women’s energy naturally changes due to hormonal fluctuations, stress sensitivity, and emotional processing. My advice? Take advantage of it. Allow yourself to rest more during your period. Watch a movie or read a book that you’ve been putting off because of work. Your ovulation period is when you are the strongest and most energetic. Work more and get all your tough tasks done during this time. Syncing your workflow with your cycle is the best thing you can do for yourself so that you don’t feel like you haven’t accomplished anything at the end of the month.

When you subscribe to hustle culture, you’re not only at risk of burning out physically but also emotionally. Your feelings become a heavy burden, and you can’t seem to feel seen or supported. You might think that you shouldn’t be emotional and that all you should do is work. You should understand that rest is not a sign of weakness, and anything that doesn’t give you peace shouldn’t be in your life.

There are healthier alternatives to hustle culture that abound in it entirely and redefine what success means to you. It is not something that comes with your struggling, but with work and rest. You need to understand that you will still be successful even when you have spare time, rest, and sleep 8 hours a day. Putting and honoring yourself is the most important thing. You come first, and that is all that matters. You will get all that you want, but not by overworking yourself.

Well, I hope this helped you, and you put yourself first. GOODLUCK!