Quiet Moods in a World of Hustle Culture
The other day, I was watching a YouTube clip in which a podcaster was talking about the way more and more people are falling into a trend of being "not interested."
As in, not interested in any of the cultural trends and pressures that so often are placed upon us.
In a way, it sounded a bit like a western counterpoint to the growing Chinese tangping (or "lying flat") movement, which is a rejection of ambition and the constant drive for success and wealth.
I understand the trend... my own revelatory moment came more than a decade ago when I realized that whatever I was doing would never be "enough" and there was a 99% chance that I would never be able to actually retire.
So you reach a point in which you decide that you'd rather have peace than success.
It doesn't sit well with many people, least of all those who are deeply committed to the so-called "grind" and hustle culture.
I suppose my own rejection of Hustle Culture came from understanding that no matter what you might do, "it" will never be enough. And if it will never be enough... then why bother trying? Like that old Texas expression "Don't keep pissing into the wind."
That's one of the downfalls of the industrialized world: it expects you to keep toiling, even when you recognize that there's absolutely nothing you can do to better your situation... other than simply walking away. But even though walking away feels like the right choice, we are pressured endlessly to not do so, usually accompanied by many warnings that life will end if we reject conventional wisdom.
But what really happens when we go our own way?
The thing about the world is that it is set up and formatted to support those who follow the "generally accepted way," and when you deviate from that, you often find that it's far from easy.
I learned much of my peaceful preferences and nature from being raised in large part by my auntie in Denmark... and she was a big proponent of "not rushing" and "not doing too much."
Ironic, in a way, because she was actually one of Denmark's first female corporate executives, back before World War II. It was not a role she wanted, nor a role she asked for. It was one she was more or less forced into by circumstance, because her male siblings went off to "the new world" when the saber rattling in Europe started up, in earnest... so she found herself at the helm of a sizeable manufacturing company.
She determined — quite quickly — that too many people placed far too much emphasis on "getting ahead," even in a place like Denmark... which lived — to some degree — under the shadow of its own version of the "Jante Law" (Tall Poppy Syndrome).
I think she (privately) worried about my well-being, being raised by two people who had lived in the USA for many years and took certain aspects of US culture with them back to Denmark.
As I have written on many occasions, I don't like being eternally busy and having to move at breakneck speed... just to — effectively — end up jogging in place.
In many ways "peaceful poverty" beats "rushed riches."
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!
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Created at 2026.01.03 01:38 PST
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