Rose Gardner did everything right: straight As, a first-class degree, a master's, and a career in publishing. She bought a flat in London. Yet each milestone brought no joy. 'I felt scared,' she says. 'I knew I had to keep working at a job I hated to pay the mortgage.'
Gardner, 42, quit five years ago, sold her flat, and moved back to her parents' house in Wiltshire. She now works part-time in hospitality and crafts jewellery from a shed. 'My parents are getting older, I pay rent and bills. We live a separate but together life,' she says. 'I lost my relationship with myself when I listened to what I should be doing.'
Gardner embodies the 'soft life' trend among millennials, a generation raised on hard work but facing a cost-of-living crisis and multiple recessions. Gabrielle Judge, known online as the Anti Work Girlboss, says: 'You think your job will take care of you? That crumbled for millennials, especially during the 2008 recession.'
Judge, 26, coined 'lazy girl job' on TikTok in 2023. After graduating in computer science, she worked exhausting hours at a tech firm for a $10k raise, which was effectively a pay cut after inflation. She quit after a concussion and took an entry-level remote customer service role. 'I was underemployed but comfortable,' she says. 'It was a spiritual breakthrough.'
The soft life prioritises time and happiness over burnout and consumerism. For generations who may never afford a home or retire, it's a growing online movement rejecting the 'lean in' corporate ideal in favour of balance and simplicity.
