Now more than ever, people are jumping into jobs and putting everything that they can into it. And it's something that we've learned to do. Millennials have watched their parents work hard to provide and we inherited their work ethic. Because, shockingly enough, not all millennials are lazy, entitled and unmotivated. But that's beside the point.
Like I was saying, we have been socialized to put in long hours, work hard, and climb up whatever corporate ladder that you are on; just like Andrea "Andy" Sachs does, unknowingly, in The Devil Wears Prada. Several things happen to her that happen to everyone in the strive to be the best at work or even in the attempt to be successful in college.
1. She lost important relationships
Let's ignore the fact that her friends, in the movie at least, are complete assholes to her when she needs to take a work call. And if we do ignore that, we just see Andy making a variety of decisions that would help her raise her status at work while sacrificing her relationships. She missed birthdays and had to blow off the plans that she made with her dad. And that's so common, especially for college students.
As we get busier and busier in college, we tend to go home or be at home less and less. And how do we justify it? By saying that it's necessary and important that we do all the things that we think are necessary at school. And I know school does take precedence, but in the case of clubs and other organizations, we are all too quick to miss important events.
2. She neglected herself
Now more than ever, self-care is the topic across multiple social media platforms. And it's no surprise that this is the case. Just as we neglect our friends and families, we neglect ourselves. Instead of coming home to relax, we are in a constant state to get things done before we head to bed. Go to the gym, answer emails, make dinner, do homework and a whole slew of other things need to get done before our heads can hit the pillow. In Andy's case, she was bringing home school projects to finish.
3. She turns into the exact thing that she did not want to become
And by that I mean, we let ourselves get consumed by the life that we are supposed to lead. We get wrapped up in that one identity that by the time we finally feel the pressure and crack, we don't know who we are anymore. So while we spend our time trying not to be too busy and enjoy college (like I said I would after high school) jumping into a new project is inevitable. But we need to start making conscious decisions to not go against what we believe in. Just like when Andy gets to the point that Miranda is telling her that Andy is just like her, we have those moments where we realize that we have gone way too far.
And all of us are a bit like Andy. We get sucked into the thing that we are doing and let it consume our life. And it doesn't stop there. We do this so much that we encourage it in our friend, family and work relationships. And when we finally take a break, we wonder why we dread going back to something that we think we are supposed to love.
I don't know if we are going to deconstruct that standard of working so hard that we continue to sacrifice ourselves. But even by acknowledging this, we are able to make a small change.
