Hello everyone, it's my second time here, and I'm glad to be here again. I've been drawing some inspiration from post on here. And this time, I'm here to share about an interesting culture in Nigeria.
It is called the Hustle Culture.
I believe most people would know this about we Nigerians, I'm sure you as well would have heard one thing or the other of our hustling spirit.
Here in Nigeria, the word hustle is not just about finding work/job, it's not just about going up and down, it is more of a culture, I mems it is a way of life for us. That's what I grew up with, that hustling spirit. You can't just sleep till day break, who goes you. You can't just say you want to sleep early either, who does that. Back then, I feel they are just stressing me out and are just too serious about what life actually is, but now I can understand it. That life, nigeria and all demands that you have that spirit in you, else you will find it extremely hard to survive, that's if you do.
You see people wake up very early in the morning, I mean so early that you still find it hard to see clearly, but then you're up, not just up, but you're out already, maybe inside the traffic rushing to work/shop, or in the streets trying to sell out your wares and rush back home to pick up some more and all. That's how you see school teachers also bringing provisions like biscuits, purewater, sweets, and such to sell in school. Hardly will you find a civil servant who doesn't have like two to three extra businesses they run not just on weekends, but also after their working time, some even donit simultaneously.
I have a neighbor back then who was a police officer, this man is also a Uber driver. He runs both together and on weekends he's an event planner. I went to work at an event some months ago and that's how I got to know he's also an event planner. You can't just help it as a Nigerian. That's how you feel students who should be so deep in learning still running one or two side hustles together with their education.
And what can we do, it has become a mentality every Nigerian has, I mean the hustle mentality.
And in as much as it has it's good side, which we can say it helps teaches resilience, creativity, hardwork and the likes, it also has it's other side. Yes, it does. We are always so busy "hustling" that we don't even remember to take a time out to enjoy even a day. You just find it hard to rest... Likey
I know of people who work everyday, doing like three different work from morning till night and they still feel they aren't doing enough. They feel it's not enough, you see them still trying to find one thing or the ither that can be addressed it to that which they are already doing. We now see rest as luxury, one that we can't afford, we feel we must always be up and doing, always strong and find it hard to complain when we feel burdensome. Amf what do we say then... "It is well." That's just our default setting.
And the truth is, honestly that hustling is helping us, cause if not surviving in this land wouldn't have been easy, even with the way we hustle it is still not easy, but at the same time it is also draining us. I've seen how this hustling spirit help people grow from grass to grace and I've also seen how it has left others stressed, tired and even hospitalized.
I'm not saying we should stop hustling, nah, but I feel we can put a balance to it. Because we really need to have it at the back of our minds that kife isn't only about surviving but also about living... Like really living.
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