This story was originally published in The Ritual ISSUE 5. You can subscribe here for free and read stories like this every Thursday, direct to your inbox.
Another week, another trend falling into our feeds.
This trend has been brewing for some time, and what started as an internet colloquialism, has now become a movement about ruthless optimisation. You’ve likely seen the suffix ‘maxxing’ to a slew of different words. Protein-maxxing, sleep-maxxing, looks-maxxing, fibre-maxxing, and alarmingly, salmonella-maxxing (yikes).
The trend is exactly how it sounds, it’s about focusing on one particular aspect of your lifestyle and taking it to the extreme - ‘the max’ if you will.
So, where does maxxing come from?
The New York Times explored the etymology of the ‘maxxing’ suffix, noting its origins from dark Reddit forums and video game ideology. That is, in video games it’s not uncommon to ‘max’ out your character on a certain trait to improve performance. It’s been found that certain Reddit threads have turned this idea into a real-life sport. Equally, it noted how the word-trend has formed its own ecosystem, finding any part of life to max out on. Yet, one area in particular seems to get the spotlight most. This trend often attaches itself to elements of health and wellness as a way to market betterment and being. Curated through planned optimisation and sold under the guise that by doing this one thing in excess, it’s inherently a good move for your health.
Doubling down on one outlet, promises the allure of optimisation in a way that we know to be reaffirming of improvement. Growing up, we are told that if you do one thing, and keep doing it over and over, we will get better at it. There lies the ‘crux’ of the maxxing trend. Repeated behaviours, to create the optimal solution to the problem we’re looking to solve. Teachers would call it ‘rote learning’.
If we were to look at any of these ‘maxxing’ trends in isolation, there’s opportunity to think positively about the idea being put forward. It’s a fun, TikTok-ified mindset approach to help ourselves feel better. But, what happens if we start to ‘max’ everything in our lives?
With this rise of ‘maxxing’ in all areas of health - and realistically lifestyle - if we’re influenced to max out our capacity on everything, do we put ourselves at risk of wellness burnout? Sure, we’d love to believe that total optimisation would unlock a state of ultimate wellness and higher-energy living. But the research states otherwise.
Wellness burnout: how does this impact 'maxxing' culture?
Lululemon's 2024 Global Wellbeing Report surveyed 16,000 people across 15 markets and found 45% are experiencing "wellbeing burnout" - that is, feeling powerless to improve oneself despite pressure to appear well. Unrealistic expectations to "be well" (especially for Gen Z/Millennials at 76% and 71% respectively) echo ‘maxxings’ scoreboard mentality and the performance of social media.
Wellness burnout is rising, and with that comes an exhaustion for trends that ideally are meant to improve our lifestyle, yet in reality they create a great sense of ‘overwhelm-maxxing’.
Some of these trend iterations do promote rest - such as cosy-maxxing - but the more we attach this suffix to everyday health behaviours, do we create an underlying assumption that we need to be doing… more? Seeing these trends creates an unconscious pressure where we believe that we constantly need to do more than what is required. Is it not enough to simply exist? Two things can be true, we can wish to become better at certain tasks or life skills, but to be great and efficient at everything, that can be cause for overwhelm.
When asked about acting in a constant state of efficiency, expert and psychotherapist Phil Lane, stated that “The great irony here is that the message itself is positive: Self-care and wellness are important and can keep us healthy and balanced. But the presentation and dissemination of the message is problematic: Do more, make it glamorous, squeeze it all in, maximise, and optimise it.”
Recently, writer and psychologist Emily Hohnke spoke about how productivity-maxxing is killing sexiness, that by doing everything for the sake of forced improvement, actually removes the spontaneity of life. To this, we agree. Life is about those moments that are unexpected, delightful and they create space for growth and inner joy. When we’re in a culture that creates guilt for not doing enough, and now overwhelmed by the expectation of too much, how do we find the middle ground?
What is the equilibrium of this spectrum and does the answer lie within how we inherently view ‘wellbeing’? We question if this trend exemplifies shifting views of balanced wellbeing, and the idea of balance has morphed into a range of activities that are constantly edging our improvement status. It is a fact that we can always be better and do better at anything in life, but we need to circumnavigate the expectation that this is a must, rather it is an option. Optimisation is great for areas where it will genuinely improve workplace performance, or your overall happiness, but it’s not something we can do across everything all at once. Not without burning the candle at both ends.
Our answer: re-evaluate your priorities of optimisation. What parts do you wish to optimise? Which parts are you seeking optimisation for which aren’t due to your own desires, but rather the pressures of those around you?
Sit in the stillness. Breathe deeper. Exist.
Maybe try rest-maxxing.
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