The idea of independence and freedom has evolved over the years. Especially for women, the battle to attain freedom of speech, walk the streets without the fear of being harassed, and getting the desired position in their careers to even achieving basic rights has been a long-lived, long-talked about. While today, as I sit in front of my laptop screen, punching these words down, I believe I speak from the bias of enjoying a certain amount privilege, that helps me breathe, while identifying as a female in her 20s, providing emotionally and financially for myself.
While years passed as we watched the climate at home and outside change from what our great-grandmothers survived through, our mothers lived, partially battled with and what their daughters fought against. The change was more about acceptance than altering the rather ancient belief system of Indian society. Besides being a woman, hustle, guilt and a lot more terms, took a spot on our shoulders, as we were taught to grow up to fit a box. While the box refused to change, we outgrew it, one generation after the other. After years of battling for basic rights, raging for the trauma and fighting to live a fearless life, women today want to explore the idea of a “resting girl.”
Not stemming through the frivolous notions of “laziness,” perhaps looking forward to finally embracing the concept of “self-care.” Providing a new tangent to feminism, women want to enjoy the freedom that they fought for. This concept across the globe is mothered by Internet’s newest lifestyle trends that take your brain on a little stroll. Sleepy girl, girl mossing, and bed rotting are visible offspring of this new idea, that women are giving birth to. Pop culture is proof, that women are finally entering their “Resting girl era.”
The concept of sleeping and bed rotting is more than tucking yourself tight in that cozy bed. It goes beyond its usual association with “laziness.” Sleep has psychologically proven to be the most popular coping mechanism and medium of escapism when reality looks tough. For women running the endless race of capitalism, this era is like the knight in shining armour. It’s just me, my bed and I, when anytime a tsunami of work, tragic life situations and unwanted problems enter my world, without an invitation.
As stated by the residents of the internet–Instagram and TikTok are hyping a woman, looking to rest and indulge in self care. It is finally the time, where women are allotting a bracket of space to themselves, switching the lens inwards. Even visible at the recently departed season of the Met Gala, which announced–Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, as its theme of the year, this new era wants you to take a back seat and cancel the culture that demands you to hustle unnecessarily. For that job, that toxic relationship or the demanding concepts of society, women are finally calling themselves “unavailable,” happily exiting the chat. This ERROR 101 is a long due of sorts. This wellness trend wants you to draw boundaries and fix a strong wall of bricks.
What The Resting Girl Era Doesn’t Mean?
It doesn’t want you to backtrack to the shackles of patriarchy, perhaps it wants you to sit and enjoy how far you’ve come. Be it your career, the money you’ve sweated years to earn or the freedom you’ve fought for to walk the streets of your city at 2 am, this era of embracing rest is reimbursement of sorts. As I continue to give my best, struggling for hours in that corporate dead hole, I equally wish to celebrate myself, and my efforts and reclaim my share. This cultural shift in traditions, trends and mindsets is rather a psychological one, where finally women are putting their needs above all. Through makeup, skincare, exercising and tips of striking that balance, girls are training to rest.
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A generation of aspiring women are reclaiming the idea of sitting back and nurturing themselves. Girls on the internet are looking for self-care techniques, skincare essentials, skilful ways of time management and effective therapy of the mind and body. It’s like watering your plants before you lay out seeds for someone else. An enemy to the GIRL BOSS culture, a resting girl is as ambitious but has pills to fight the exhausting bullets that patrons of patriarchy shoot at us. While this era might seem to be a temporary zone of escapism, it has long-term plans of keeping you sane, because this sansaar has a possibility of not getting perfect. For me and my almost 25-year-old girlies, who are still finding their footing in this ever-changing world, resting girl era calls for nourishment, which was long-due. Now, excuse me, as I enter my mine and dial the number to my bed.
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