Growth In Progress

Growth In Progress


The hypocrisy of the soft life aesthetic

May 07, 2025

We’re mixing heavy recommendations with a sprinkle of lighter ones this week, and we’re chatting all about Soft Life…


The Soft Life Aesthetic is supposed to be the antidote to Hustle Culture, the idea is to have more self-compassion, more intentionality, slow mornings and effortless routines. But the very nature of this curated trend means there is a lot of hypocrisy and privilege in what the soft life aesthetic stands for and the nature of creating content online means it is far from effortless. But there are some fundamentals of this trend that are important and speak to a wider craving of our generation for a more gentle, slower and compassionate lifestyle.


For more content, including bonus episodes, become a paid member of our substack right here.


Recommendations


IYCMI podcast – Have Influencers Become to Normalized to be Mocked?


Louis Theroux: The Settlers on BBC


Also mentioned


Bad Influence on Netflix


Ransom Canyon on Netflix