A while back, I wrote about How Hustle Culture Hustles You. In this piece, I talked about how overworking yourself for “the hustle” has detrimental effects on one’s own physical and mental health and even shared my story. I mentioned how the college student hustle thrives off of how many hours one sleeps, how many credit hours are logged and how many extracurriculars one can participate in. This kind of culture focused on competition and pressure from peers creates a negative environment, leading to lower satisfaction and overall lower well-being. However, this idea of workaholism can be positive as long as the focus is centered on one’s passions and intrinsic motivations.
When a task is genuinely motivating and is something you’re passionate about, you will be more satisfied with your work and have better overall well-being. Those who enjoy their work tend to be more creative, have reduced stress, and often have much higher work engagement than their counterparts who work to just work. I recently started working on some passion projects relating to illustrating and design to hone my skills and gain new insights. It’s been really fun doing something I love in my spare time and there are so many benefits for starting as well.
What’s something you’re passionate about? How can you incorporate it into your daily life so you don’t feel burnt out? These questions can help guide you in the right direction so that you’re living your life to fullest.
