Being the Tree: 3 Key Steps to Break Away from the Hustle Culture

It may be your first time encountering the phrase “hustle culture”, but for sure you have seen it happen. In fact, our generation is in the hustle culture⁠— where the more hustle you make, the more money you’ll take. At least, that’s how it ideally appears.

The hustle culture looks attractive because let’s be honest, who doesn’t want the comfort and convenience that money brings? However, that’s also the tricky part because the more work we do, the more stress-prone we become. 

So, how do we strike the balance between the need to hustle and the need to just be stress-free?

In my podcast conversation with a very special guest, Kayla Harker, we talked about the key principles she follows in order to give herself the time to rest whenever she feels called to it. In these three steps, she talks about how she breaks away from the hustle culture, the stress it brings, and the rest it gives. 

• Find out what the stress is about.

It is important to determine whether the stress is about an illness, lingering self-doubt, or something business-related. Entrepreneurs could be prone to many different forms of stress because we go at it without support from family and friends at the beginning part. 

• Identify the aspects affected by stress. 

Once you have identified what really stressed you out, you can then check with yourself which parts have been greatly affected by stress. Basically, you have to understand all the emotions you’re feeling. Is it your mind? Is it your heart? Is it your body?

• Resolve the stress. 

Depending on which part of yourself has stress reached you, work on a resolution. For Kayla’s practice, if it’s mental stress, she would do yoga or meditation. If it’s an emotional or heart-related stress, she would make movements to release it, such as going out for a walk or dancing. If it’s physical stress from too much activity, she would have to literally stop moving around and just watch a movie or read a book.  

Being the Tree: The Principle of Resting

Resting from the hustle culture is like a growing tree in all the seasons of life. 

The tree blooms in the spring. It gets vibrant in the summer. It begins to fade in the fall. And then it freezes off in winter. 

However, each time the tree emerges from the snow, it always comes out stronger, fuller, and more vibrant. 

This is how our life should look like when we take the time to take a break, rest, and just listen to our bodies when we are called to pause. 

Are you nurturing your tree?

How often do you take the time to let your mind, soul, and body rest? In my journey of holistic healing, I have come to embrace that the more we pay attention to these invitations to rest, the more we become productive once we have reset. 

As entrepreneurs, we need this kind of rest. There is no one who can dictate it for you but you alone. You have to make a decision to choose yourself first and grant the break that you deserve when you’re called to it. 

If this podcast has resonated with you, I would love to hear how you have nurtured your tree. Slide me a DM, will you? You could also forward this blog or podcast episode to a friend so they, too, could be inspired like you.