Generation - Z (Adulthood)

 

Stories from quarantine : how this Gen-z is using the lockdown to "take  a break  from the hustle culture"

 In a candid conversation with Vidhi Pandya, a 22 year old living in the heart of the buzzing city of Mumbai, she says “For all those who can come out of this pandemic with the knowledge of something new, it is admirable and for those who can’t, it is absolutely alright.”

"When the lockdown was announced after the outbreak of deadly covid-19 all over the world, the first thing came to my mind was, it is alright to take a break from the ‘hustle’ culture and be thankful for our humble existence. That was until my social media flooded with motivational posts about achieving this and that with all this 'free' time. People have been boasting about learning a new language, coming up with the perfect glass of dalgona coffee, creating fresh content for followers, finally getting into a workout regime, and even enrolling for online courses from renowned universities. It was one thing after another after another.

I, on the other hand, was grappling with anxiety.

It wasn’t just the pandemic  that was freaking me out. It was also this question: do I have to worry about corona-virus and learn new sets of skill, all at the same time? Do I need to be productive all throughout the day or else I was failing somehow?

Agreed, it’s important to keep yourself engaged , but that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be doing something new and different continuously, right?

Initially, I felt like I was clearly doing something wrong or just wasn’t motivated enough like most people I knew. It boiled down to the fact that I felt immensely guilty for not having the drive to learn ‘something new’ like others had. I started questioning myself a lot. And that added to the ever-present anxiety. Add to that that everywhere I looked be it family or friends or work, everyone had something going on. It was a nightmare. (Laughs)

 The effort to acquire new skills whilst holding down to a full-time job is a phenomenon we threw ourselves into much before corona-virus hit our civilization. And to be honest, after all the days work - both domestic and otherwise, I did not have the want to do anything else.

 So instead, I’ve used this ‘spare’ time bestowed on us to introspect. When the future of the entire humanity is under threat, it is high time that we derive value out of merely existing rather than what we can and cannot do in a society.

We’re more than the sum total of the knowledge that gives us monetary gains; more than the opportunities realized or the number of languages we know. We’re more than the statistic we’ve been taught to believe we are. You’re free to worry about the ambiguity that the future holds. We’re all different and it is about time we acknowledge the beauty of it.

 So use this opportunity to make yourself a cup of coffee and understand what it's like to be with yourself, get comfortable with your own voices for once. I sincerely request everyone to press pause on continuously tearing yourself apart in order to 'better' yourself and be more useful to a capitalist world in the middle of a pandemic.

Maybe it's okay to miss some of the opportunities now and break free from this mind-set that has been drilled into us that makes us feel guilty over taking a break once in a while."