‘Never give up’ is a common phrase that is thrown around in hopes to encourage its listeners to continuously push through, no matter the hardship. When I was little, he would read me stories for bed and my favorite was the Care bears, and particularly a story about a bear that never gave up. From there, this phrase was something my dad continuously instills in me, even to this day.

*This is MY take on Grind Culture. Completely just opinions I have formulated through watching a lot of my friends fall into “grinding”. This take DOES NOT apply to everyone.

“Grinding” is the idea of working really hard and pushing yourself either to your limits or way past them, in order to make more money or achieve a goal such as getting schoolwork done. It is common to hear “I’m on my grind” from college students or young adults that are consistently overworking themselves. These people are under the impression that this grind is benefitting them, I mean they’re getting their work knocked out, or they are getting a lot of money… But at what cost? Grinding implies that these people are often running off little sleep, lots of caffeine, not much food and absolutely no rest. This society has drilled into our brains that if we are doing anything that is not seen as productive i.e., making you money or getting you a degree, you are wasting your time.

Though the pandemic came almost two years ago, we are not yet over the lasting effects of the COVID-19 virus, so why are we as a society moving forward as if we have beaten it?

The way that body dysmorphia can actually change the way you see and think about yourself should almost be illegal.