Simone Biles and the Death of Hustle Culture

Written By: Magdalena Styś

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If you’ve paid any attention to what’s happening in the Tokyo Olympics, you’ve probably at least stumbled upon the name of Simone Biles. The most decorated American gymnast’s name is currently everywhere, from news articles, to Twitter, but this time it isn’t caused by a spectacular win - it’s because of withdrawal. Last week, Biles announced that she won’t be competing in the women’s team gymnastics final, which was later won by the Russia Olympic Committee; the USA team scored 2nd place. During a news conference, the gymnast said that she pulled out of the competition because she wanted to prioritize her mental health and work on her mindfulness.

Biles’ statement resulted in not only a lot of kind words, but also quite a lot of backlash; the words “quitter”, “weak” and “selfish” were seen thrown around. She momentarily became the butt of jokes and the punching bag for anyone who wanted to diminish the importance of mental health in people’s lives and careers. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time prioritizing yourself and your mental health over your career has been ridiculed on the Internet. Hell, you cannot scroll through Pinterest for 5 minutes without finding a cute, pink graphic about “quitter mindset”, reminding you how you should power through your struggles and keep your eyes on the prize. I really wish it were a joke, but “Stop crying… keep hustling” was one of the first results I got after googling the phrase “motivational quotes”.

Even though most of us aren’t Olympic-level athletes, we’re still vulnerable to the dangers of hustle culture. Defined by the Urban Dictionary as “the glorification of working very long hours in hope of reaching one's professional goals while having a disregard for their health, and relationships with loved ones”, it can have an impact on your wellbeing in both academic and professional environments. If you’re a student, it might represent itself as the pressure to get into a prestigious university or graduate at the top of your class; at work, it’s the urge to move up the corporate ladder or start a successful side business while having a day job. While there’s nothing wrong with the idea of success itself, hustle culture stems from the concept that you are a worker or a student first and a person second. It tells you that you can only validate yourself by how well you did on that math test or how fast you got promoted to regional manager.

Thankfully, more and more people are realizing how toxic and dangerous hustle culture can be. Raising awareness about mental health issues people face due to extremely competitive work and academic environments and actively deglorifying “the hustle” are some of the most important things we can do to improve our collective mental wellbeing. Our progress in this category can be seen by looking at all the positive reactions to Biles’ withdrawal; the kind words and wishes outnumber the insults and jokes. Hopefully, this situation will contribute to normalizing taking mental health breaks and choosing your wellbeing above your professional success.

Hustle culture has no positive sides; it doesn’t make people more productive, it doesn’t magically motivate lazier students. Instead, it demonizes taking care of yourself and links your self-esteem to superficial values. That’s why you shouldn’t listen to the quote I mentioned before; instead of holding in your tears and hustling no matter what, turn that “stop crying, keep hustling” into “stop hustling, keep crying” and kick hustle culture in the face.