BY NOEMI WILSON
We are living in difficult times. Most of us are stuck inside and really don't want to be. Yet many essential workers who still have to work are wishing they could be at home, so it's complicated to understand how to feel. As college students, we experienced a drastic change of lifestyle because the pandemic. We had to completely move out of a place many of us called home. It was a safe space, maybe safer than home for some.
On top of being in an environment that we may not prefer, a lot of our professors don't seem to understand what we're going through either. Speaking for myself, most of my professors have tried to continue classes as normally as possible. In a time where everything else around us is changing, this is unsettling. How can everything else change, but not the workload? It seems almost hypocritical to me.
Staying focused, motivated, and even happy to be a student during this time can seem impossible. For those who deal with mental health challenges, this situation is not ideal for keeping your mind as positive as it can be. Our resources and environments are limited and out of our control.
Self-care has never been so important. Yet, "hustle culture" finds its way to twist the act of taking care of yourself into a selfish one. We live in a heavy hustle culture society, but during a pandemic, it's just not it.
The assumption that everyone has more time now to be more productive than ever is just not realistic or healthy. Many people simply do not have time and assuming that everyone does is ignorant. On top of extra work, students have to process the stressful world around them.
All hustle culture brings is pressure from others to continue to chase your bag, get that summer body, and create content 24/7 because "nothing should slow you down." For many POC families or immigrant parent households, the push to do more and be more right now is not what we need. This post by "Asians for Mental Health" describes this best.
What we need right now is to cancel hustle culture. Taking time for yourself is not selfish. Sleeping more or watching more Netflix is not selfish. If that is what you feel that you need to do at this time, then do it. This pandemic has taught us that the world as we knew it can change at the blink of an eye. I think this is the time to do what you really like to do. If you were only extremely productive before this because of societal pressure, then this is the time to lean into the real you. Rediscover an old hobby. Finally read that book. If you never had the time to discover your hobby before, then try to find one now. But only if that is what you want to do! Do not let others dictate what you do with your time, because your mental and physical health is the most precious thing now more than ever before.
