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¢ Self-introspection includes sexual
exploration

..and more

Your value doesn't lie in your productivity

» Capitalism has told you otherwise

Michele Provenzano
Staff Writer

 

R* and grind. Good things come to
those who hustle. New day, new goals.
Get up earlier, stay longer, work harder,
and never ever quit. The grind never stops.
Many of us have seen these “motivational”
clichés pop up on our social media feeds.
“Hustle culture” is society’s obsession
with being as productive as possible. A day
spent being unproductive is a wasted day,
it tells us. A busy schedule is something
to brag about. Everyone around you is
busier than you, and accomplishing more
than you, so therefore is more valuable
than you. You're not burnt out? You're not
doing enough.
I don't know about you, but I’m exhausted.
Why do I feel the constant need to
evaluate myself and determine my self-
worth according to my output? Why,
despite recognizing I’ve overcommitted
myself, do I refuse to surrender any of my
responsibilities? I think it’s because of
the capitalist ideology in our society, and
hustle culture has a way of glamorizing it.
A productivity-oriented mindset has
permeated societies for centuries.
Sociologist Max Weber identified

Protestant values as paving the way for
capitalism to emerge. “Not leisure and
enjoyment, but only activity serves to
increase the glory of God, according to
the definite manifestations of His will,
he wrote. “Waste of time is thus the first
and in principle the deadliest of sins.”
This notion seems to have moved past the
realm of religion into that of dominant

 

culture.

Modern technology has made it so that we
never really have to stop being productive.
We have powerful computers that fit into
the palms of our hands, providing us with
unlimited information and leaving us no
excuse to not be working on something.
But you're allowed to sleep. You're allowed
to quit. You're allowed to do nothing. Our

Self-introspection includes
sexual exploration

» It is a both mental and physical journey of self-discovery

Tania Arora
Staff Writer

 

ver time, as life goes by and adulthood

hits us in the face, we come to realize
a lot about others and ourselves. For
instance, I have grown to realize a lot of
things about myself; I love to travel, being
around unproductive or mentally static
people irritates me, I tend to get along
better with guys rather than girls, I love to
go on solo dates, I won't cook for myself
but I love to do it for other people, and so
much more. I still explore a new side of
me every day. But when we think of self-
introspection, is it just limited to mental
digging of likes and dislikes?

No, it isn’t. Another important part
of discovering yourself is what you want
in bed, and I don’t mean how you sleep.
What are your sexual preferences? Do you
like to go slow, do you want your partner to
be gentle, or do you like fast and steamy...
and want your partner to be rough? Are
you into kinky sex or are you more Vanilla?
Are you dominant or submissive? Do you
like bondage? The questions are endless.
Finding answers to these questions is a part
of knowing ourselves. And we only get the
answers to these questions when we try
things out.

 

culture glamorizes workaholism despite
its negative consequences. Workaholism
can lead to sleep problems, weight gain,
high blood pressure, anxiety, depression,
and can damage personal relationships.
It goes hand-in-hand with guilt and
compulsion. Psychologist Bryan Robinson
has deemed workaholism the “best-
dressed mental health problem.”
I think capitalism promotes the toxic idea
that there’s something inherently wrong
with being idle. But modern philosopher
Slavoj Zizek feels that we should not fear
or try to avoid passivity. Instead, what we
should avoid is pseudo-activity, the urge
to be active for the sake of being active or
simply to mask the pointlessness of one’s
actions. He promotes inaction, something
he argues can be active in itself.

We shouldn't wear our burnout
like a badge of honour, dreading
the implications of taking a day off
and resting. Taking care of oneself is
something to be proud of and to be
prioritized. The values of capitalism
cannot be prioritized over my well-being.
I’m going to allow my productivity to
dwindle when it needs to, without letting
it affect my sense of self-worth. It’s quite
the rebellious act, but I think one worth
doing.

I was on a date a few weeks back
with someone I have been talking to for
a while now. I was ready to get physically
involved and was hoping our date would
go well. When we started making out, in
the first few seconds I could tell that he is
not my type. Till I was 22, I did not know
my stamina—I was still exploring if I like
sex slow or not as I sometimes enjoy both.
I now know that I enjoy kissing only from
some specific people who have a specific
style. This is something about myself
that took me awhile to discover—I had to
experience it first.

One of my friends who is fairly new
to such things one day mentioned ina
conversation: “I haven't tried going down
ona guy before. When I see it in porn,
it makes me uncomfortable.” This made
me think, if we don't try something, it is
hard to tell if whether we will like it or
not. Only after trying it will we know how
we feel about it. It is same as finding your
kissing style, you know more when you try
more. Similarly, by actually performing the
dominant or submissive role, you figure
out which side you prefer, and you may be
surprise yourself when trying out each side.

Sexual preference isn’t something we
will get to know after one sexual session.
The more you try, the more you understand
yourself better. When two people are
involved in a sexual encounter, the aim is
not just to satisfy the other person, but
ourselves too.