It's okay for your work to be your life

Detangling our value from our careers doesn't mean that our lives can't be about our art.

I entered the workforce in the Girlboss hustle culture of the 2010s, convinced my value as a human being depended on a successful career, which worked out well in exactly one way: I endlessly hustled until I achieved a somewhat successful career. I then went through a debilitating period of burnout, but we’ll save that for later. 

Sometime around 2014, I read a quote from Lena Dunham, who had blown up on the scene with Girls. I can’t find the source now, but I still remember it:

“I’ve always wanted my work to be my life, and now it is.”

I knew exactly how she felt. It’s what I always wanted, too.

Now, after the seismic shift of 2020, the year in which Americans realized that capitalism is bad, actually, and that productivity is not important — in fact, it’s toxic, and that it’s okay to lose your ambition — it’s cringy to hear.

Why would you want to spend your life working? A “dream job”? Why dream of labor? Life is about so much more.

But… when you’re an artist who feels compelled to crea…