Written by Sue Fuller-Good (MSc Physio WITS) Physiotherapist with a special interest in the mind-body connection
What is Grind Culture?
Grind culture is the belief that in order to get ahead and to achieve status we have to be “always on” and “always available”. Grind culture is when you are the first person at work and the last to leave. You start your day by checking your emails and your WhatsApp and you end it the same way. Grind culture is where you squeeze you into the tiny corner that work leaves for you.
Why is grind culture so detrimental to your wellbeing?
The body gets into a fight and flight state and it never gets out of that state. The body was never designed to be in a state of stress for more than a short time. Grind culture can also be called hustle culture. Hustle culture is a culture in which achievement and the relentless drive to get ahead are the measure of success.
Let’s chat today about the grind culture. A culture that has been fuelled by the scarcity mindset, by the myth that more is always better. Stop for a minute and see if you are affected by this. This myth is driving men and women around the globe towards burnout and into body damaging and life shortening stress. Is it true that more is better? This is a question that bears answering day by day and week by week in your life. Don’t just take it as a truth, examine it in each and every circumstance.
I have noticed in myself that there is a sense of “it’s never enough”, no matter how much work I do, it feels as if the pile waiting for me never gets any smaller. I have seen that especially since COVID there is a sense of never enough time. There is an urgency about things that escalated as the pandemic continued. But it prevails even as we cautiously optimistically start to think that the pandemic may just be over. This time scarcity is part of the grind culture.
My question is, are we going to live with this or do something to change our perception and unconscious message?
It starts with managing your mind:
Remind yourself to relax.
Just do what you can, not more and not less. Consciously draw a line in the sand and make that line the enough line for any period of time.
Allow yourself to believe its ok to rest, there is a place and a time for everything under the sun, and it must all slot in effortlessly.
Creativity flows in the empty moments, so make sure there are some gaps or creativity dries up. Even learning requires mind wandering and so if we are too busy and too tightly packed we can’t learn!
Choose wisely what you fit in, let go of anything that isn’t essential to where you want to go.
Sometimes being busy is a defence against feeling your uncomfortable feelings. They don’t go away when you defend against them, so relax and let them in, they won’t last forever nor will they harm you.
Make sure you are the boss of your phone and not the other way around.
Sometimes going slower ultimately means going further.
Are you sure you want to do all the things you say you have to do?
Remember, this is your precious and finite life. Choose wisely how you spend your lifetime.
Grinding is squandering, stressing is destroying.
I wish you some gentle, relaxed and pressure free time!