Just Don't

‘Humans are at the centre of the universe,’ which means they can do whatever they want whenever they want, and there would be no consequences because there is no one to demand humans to explain their actions. Combined with the rise of capitalism and consumption trends, this line of thinking paved the way for the Hustle Culture. Since its emergence, it has been moulding humans to constantly be on the move; whether it be in professional or private life, the individual is pressured to want more and act non-stop to achieve whatever that ‘more’ means for them. It might be a position of power within a corporation, a family of four or going to the moon. The end does not matter, because the means are what defines the daily life of an individual as well as the impact they have on the others whom they live with on Earth.

Thanks to Hustle Culture, idleness is now considered a sin in all aspects of life. Someone who embodies its tenets can never sit idle, because being idle means not hustling to climb the ranks of the corporate world, to contribute to money circulation or to contribute to the mass consumption that defines the society. If one is idle and just does not do anything but sit idle, they might find themselves thinking, and thinking means not consuming or generating money which is not a desirable outcome for the purposes of Hustle Culture.  Because, for it to function, everybody needs to hustle, and keep hustling until either they physically cannot or the culture has no need for them anymore. Just like the motto of a famous clothing brand, “Just do it,” humans are expected to keep at it without any thought behind the act. One can climb mountains, dive into the ocean, fly in the air; it is of no consequence. The limit is the imagination; which means that there is no limit, and the culture is not interested in the act anyway, just that the individual hustles and the culture survives through it is enough.

However, if one constantly hustles they will not have any time left to ponder the righteousness or consequences of their actions. This would not be a problem if humans were at the centre of the universe, but they are not. They are not even at the centre of Earth because they share not only Earth but also the universe with infinite amounts of living beings; even if the living beings are microbes or species yet to be discovered in space. Therefore, their actions within the Hustle Culture have consequences and most of their actions are detrimental to the course of nature, and come out to be quite destructive for nature as well as humans in the long run. For far too long humans have been living blinded by their power over all things both human and non-human. For far too long they have ignored the consequences of their actions, but now it is becoming more obvious by the day that they cannot just do it and that they need to ‘Just do not,’ at least some of the time. Humans are not in a video game where they can do whatever they want, wreak havoc on anything and everything they come across, and then just press restart or reload a previous save. This is real life, and all their actions affect what is now and what will come after. Just like how their predecessors affected their lives with actions in the past, the current generation will affect future generations as well. Hence, humans need to stop and think from time to time instead of just doing it.

Even though humans constantly talk about their ability to think and how it differentiates them from other living beings and how it renders them superior, they do not seem to think most of the time. Because if they did think things through, they would not be cutting the same branch they are living on: as in they would not be killing the planet since they need it to live. Yet, this is what Hustle Culture needs to survive. It does not require humans who utilize their critical thinking skills daily, it requires humans who constantly act under the tenets of the culture without putting any thought into it. It needs people to be enamoured with themselves and the current way of living the culture offers so that they want more and more of it without any regard for consequences.

If humans thought things through, they would realize the flaws of the Hustle Culture and what it entails. They would realize that this way of living was not sustainable and that some things needed to change so that Earth would not be destroyed and in the process take humans alongside it. This would not necessarily mean stopping hustling or consuming, but finding a balance between those and being idle to think about the consequences of their actions from time to time. Only then they could detect the flaws in the culture that are leading them to destruction, and do something about it. Only then they would be able to utilize their ability to think and combine it with actions to bring a balance between their desires and the needs of nature. Only then they can sustain the world they live in and flourish themselves concurrently. This is why humans need to learn when to ‘Just do it,’ and when to ‘Just don't.’