You might think you are one, although you’re not. Here’s why.

You do not become a narcissist because you’ve been around a bunch of narcissists for quite some time. It doesn’t work this way. You have to lack the ability to have a self, and then hide that reality by being a fake self that is perfectly designed to feed on the life force of others, or else you wouldn’t be able to sustain your existence. You also have to lack empathy, not because you don’t have time, you’re focused, or you’re going through tough times yourself, but for no excuse, and with everything or toward everyone. You are also expected to have a sense of superiority that means it’s okay to abuse others, you are also expected to think you are above accountability, and to have a continuous desire to perpetually prove to others how superior you are to them through relentlessly attempting to destroy their lives. Feeling overconfident is not enough. It has to be to the extent of having no problem with abusing others since you’re that awesome and special. You can actually argue that having great self confidence alone is a good thing. You have to want to abuse others because of that sense of superiority, or else you aren’t and can’t be narcissistic. There’s no such thing as a narcissistic person who doesn’t survive on getting supply from surrounding people through abusing them. It’s not a matter of whether they’ll ever abuse you, it’s only a matter of when.

It’s not toxic hustle culture, it’s the only option available.

When you are in a tough situation, you need to focus on getting out of there as fast as you can.

Normal business as usual ways of living a peaceful and happy life don’t apply here. You cannot think about prosperity and luxury when you’re having a hard time surviving. It doesn’t mean you’re running in survival mode when it’s no longer necessary. It means that your survival is still threatened. You need to focus on making it out of the unfavorable or bad environment or circumstances without getting pulled right and left by things that shouldn’t be a concern for someone who is still struggling to survive or breathe. You shouldn’t try to apply every strategy that you know that is made for people who are not stuck in a situation, with circumstances, or in an environment that makes their survival or them having or living a normal life impossible. It is then absurd to discourage them from going all in on fixing their life or overcoming their hurdles. Calling that toxic hustle culture is an abomination, and a sign of unchecked privilege of people who have no idea what real suffering looks like. People encouraging each other to win, to make it out of the hell hole they’ve been stuck in for as long as they can remember is not toxic, it’s heroic. Do what you can to get out of there alive, in one piece, by any means necessary, and then you can start worrying about burnout and adopting a business as usual lifestyle and work ethic or style that is more sustainable.