It’s Not Quiet Quitting, but Spiritually Subscribing
You’ve probably seen it on Tik Tok or heard people talking about it - but what exactly is Quiet Quitting? Quiet quitting is the act of doing the bare minimum to get by and coast through your 9-to-5. Although employers are obviously freaking out this viral trend (“People don’t care anymore?! How will the business survive?”),
As Tricia Hersey writes in her manifesto, “Rest is Resistance”, grind culture is a descendent of slavery. Too many of us are still running on the idea that you need to destroy your personhood to create capital. This is what we are Quitting in Quiet Quitting: the belief that we are machines, endlessly producing (btw even machines break). Ironically, once you start to divest from this idea and its influence over your life - you start to invest in something much more valuable: yourself. By Quitting one idea, you’re subscribing to another: that your human life is sacred; that all of ours are.
Progressive workplaces understand that you, operating in your full power, is a huge asset to their business. The version of you that is well-rested, dreaming, inspired, and energized is a literal money engine. It’s actually good business for them to encourage you to take care of you. But it’s not about just putting money into someone else’s pocket (the idea we’re Quitting); it’s about using this one wild and precious life of yours to bring real value to the world: financial, social, cultural, spiritual, etc.
‘Quiet Quitting’ is a reactive term that rejects the macro systems at play. It’s a teenage rebellion against the authority that no longer serves. But does a teenager have any real power? To really step into your power, redirect from what you are Quitting - to what you are Subscribing to. At its best, Quiet Quitting is a form of Spiritually Subscribing: bringing your attention back to your health, wellbeing, and right to joy. By doing this internally, you support the collective in divesting from the systems that serve no one… and help to rebuild the ones that serve us all.
