With the rising desire of living a life where everything is lighter, discussions about the possibility to sustain a reality like this emerges on the Internet: is it boring? is it true happiness? And… the concept still holds the same meaning since it popped out?
Among many questions that could be asked, one of them was chosen to lead this article: after all, is “soft life” a type of self-care or is it a subtle privilege?
“Soft Life” as Self-Care
Not very long ago, having a successful life meant “working while they sleep”, not taking breaks and even sleeping under your work desk if it was necessary. In order to accumulate money and properties that allowed you the access to a superior social status. Of course this glamour had its price, and the fees of success came in the form of a fragile mental health, exhaustion and the feeling of emptiness. Gen Z realized the cruelty of this hustle culture and abandoned it to have a “soft life”.
This concept, promoted by Nigerian influencers, was mostly Afrocentric. It referred to a population that has a life with no time to rest, victims of social factors, such as electrical power insecurity, or unemployment — leading to economic problems.
When “soft life” reached the multicultural territories of social media, it went through the process of appropriation by Western people, specially North Americans and Europeans.
This way, soft life changed the view of what being successful means. It increases the demand for self-care, with less guilt for resting, and more simplicity instead of quickness, and leaves the bad habits behind, which were seen as the only path to a promising future.
Simultaneously, the concept of having a “softer” life becomes more and more a product commercialized in social media.
When this happens, the idea of resistance to a lifestyle based on hustle culture is left behind, and the only thing that remains is a lifestyle that draws attention for good-looking images of white women that constantly taking care of their bodies and minds. Enjoying their free time doing different activities, working in interesting environments and showing a perfect routine.
The most important characteristics of the pursuit of a calm life, such as demanding a life that is not only based on surviving daily, are erased. But what you see is an unreachable life and no questioning about it, which leads to bad consumerism habits and can be desired by many, but will never be experienced by everyone, just as another regular product.
The “soft life” also imposes a model to be followed. A model that doesn’t consider social circumstances of those women who want to have this lifestyle. The excessive focus on luxury consumption puts “soft life” as a model that is only accessible for financially privileged women, and confines them in a consumerist identity, ignoring how expensive it is to start and to keep this lifestyle.
After all, what is soft life?
On one hand, the concept has an Afrocentric origin that works specially for Nigerian reality, but, when it was reinterpreted by American Western culture, it has become an important resistance base to the hustle culture, which was seen as the only way to succeed until a few years ago, by valuing moments to rest and self-care in general.
But it is possible to achieve a balance to have a happier and calmer life. It starts with the possibility of choosing how you want to live. Putting it in practice demands time and a lot of patience, but it starts with small choices, like taking you and your ideas seriously before you take on another position at the company you work for.
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The article above was edited by Larissa Olm.
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