Work Hard, Play Hard Isn’t For Me. So, I Built a New Way to Live.
What I really want is to feel free while I build. Not after. Not later. Now.
This is why I built Trendie - a different way to live and build at the same time. Because for a long time, I didn’t have anything to anchor me.
Like a lot of people, I followed the script. The idea that if you work yourself to the edge, you earn the right to rest. The work hard, play hard mindset that’s so deeply embedded in our culture. Study to earn the grade. Work to earn the weekend. Hustle until you can retire. The belief that if you push hard enough now, you’ll eventually earn the life you want later. That if you can prove yourself first, you’ll be free eventually.
But what happens when you do all of that and still feel off? When the life you're building looks good on paper but doesn’t feel good in your body? Or when life just has other plans? When it doesn’t unfold the way you thought it would, no matter how hard you tried to do things "right"?
That was me at 21. Right after university.
I’d always clung to structure, routines, and doing things the “right” way. Following the script felt safe, even when it didn’t feel right. But no amount of structure could quiet the anxiety when the life I was building didn’t actually fit who I was becoming.
I had what I now call an early life crisis. I’d landed a graduate job and lasted only three months. Not because I wasn’t capable but because I made a decision. I didn’t feel like myself, and I refused to ignore that any longer. I was anxious, stressed, and completely disconnected from the life I was living.
So I applied to be a chalet girl instead. I quit my job in London. And a week later, I was in the Alps, cleaning toilets and making beds for a living
And weirdly, I started to romanticise it.
Because it meant I could ski every day.
Because my commute was a ski lift, not a packed tube I didn’t want to be in.
Because I felt present for the first time in years.
Because even though I was technically doing less, I felt more like myself than I had in a long time.
That season changed everything.
Not because I wanted to clean toilets forever but because it cracked something open in me.
It was the beginning of unlearning everything I’d been taught.
Study hard. Get the grades. Go to uni. Land the job.
Follow the rulebook and you’ll be fine.
But life doesn’t work like that.
Nothing is promised, no matter how closely you follow the plan.
Being in the Alps made me immune to the kind of hunger for more that used to drive me. I overheard conversations between billionaires with problems I’d never even thought about, and I realised how lucky I was. I didn’t want what they had. I didn’t need more. I needed to feel grounded.
That season taught me that simplicity isn’t failure.
It’s clarity.
It’s freedom.
No one tells you that.
But I felt it.
It also taught me how to live existentially.
I don’t feel entitled to this life, not even a little.
I don’t think I deserve it just because I built it.
I know it could all be taken away at any moment.
And that’s exactly what makes it so precious.
That mindset changed everything.
It grounded me.
Made me grateful.
Made me want to live well now, not just someday.
Because later isn’t guaranteed.
Now is.
I didn’t want to scrub toilets forever, but I knew I didn’t want to chase someone else’s version of success either. That was the start of coming back to myself.
The next chapter was clear.
I wanted to live this way and build something meaningful at the same time.
That’s how Trendie started to take shape.
Not as a business plan but as something deeper.
A mindset. A lifestyle.
A way of moving through the world with more intention.
It became my anchor.
A way to define success by how it feels, not just how it looks.
The work hard, play hard mindset is outdated.
It thrives on extremes. Burnout followed by escape. Pressure followed by collapse.
But that’s not the kind of story I want to live, and it’s not the one I want to tell.
You don’t need to run yourself into the ground to earn your freedom.
You don’t need to hustle through your twenties just to maybe enjoy your life at 40.
You don’t need to disappear to find yourself again.
There’s another way.
One where you live and build at the same time.
One where you don’t have to sacrifice who you are to create something that matters.
And the younger you realise that, the more of your life you actually get to live.
I, personally, don’t look up to the founders who only found themselves after selling the company. The ones who had to take a sabbatical just to remember who they are.
I say that with compassion, not criticism. Because to need that much recovery shows just how far they had to drift from themselves in the process.
I don’t want that.
I don’t want to disappear from my own life just to arrive at some polished version later.
I want to build with presence. From the start.
And honestly, I’ve never felt more alone trying to build something in a way that feels aligned.
Because I haven’t found many people I can really follow.
I haven’t seen a model of entrepreneurship that hasn’t come with burnout or compromise or sacrificing what matters most to me.
Health. Freedom. Relationships. Family. Time.
That makes it harder, not easier.
But I also know I’m not here to copy someone else’s version of success.
I’m still figuring it out.
I’m human.
I still question myself.
I still have days where I wonder if I’m doing it all wrong.
But I trust my gut now. And Trendie keeps me anchored through it all.
I’d rather build something that feels right to me than follow a path that looks right to everyone else.
I respect their journey, but it’s not one I want to replicate.
I don’t want to sacrifice connection, health, time or joy just to chase a version of success that doesn’t fit who I am.
That’s not my path.
To me, that’s not success. That’s survival.
For me, success is about rhythm.
It’s about being in flow.
Staying close to what feels like you.
That’s what I call ‘Tasteful Hedonism’.
Living fully, but doing it with intention.
Choosing joy over pressure.
Creating a life you don’t need to escape from.
Trendie is my anchor.
It keeps me rooted.
It reminds me why I started.
It brings me back to what matters most when the noise creeps in.
I’m not perfect.
Trendie was never about having it all figured out.
It’s about knowing that even when you stray, you have something to return to.
It’s not about getting it right all the time.
It’s about staying connected to what’s true for you and choosing to come back to that, again and again.
And now, it’s for anyone else who’s ready to define success on their own terms.
For the ones who want alignment over approval.
Freedom over pressure.
Intention over intensity.
Trendie isn’t just a brand.
It’s a way of living.
A different kind of freedom.
A lifestyle that lets you live and build at the same time without the burnout.
It’s about replacing work hard, play hard with something more sustainable.
Something rooted.
Something that lasts.
Something I’ve come to define as work and play - or live and build - at the same time.
And to be clear, this isn’t about quitting your job and living on a yacht.
Unless that’s your thing.
Trendie is about asking better questions.
About creating space to think about what you’re building and whether it actually reflects who you are.
Whether you’re a doctor, a creative, a teacher, a broker or something in between, we all deserve to live lives that feel like ours.
This isn’t about rejecting hard work or escaping responsibility.
It’s about redefining the way we move through life and work.
It’s about choosing alignment over extremes and building something sustainable without compromising who you are.
Don’t just reclaim the narrative.
Reclaim your life.
Or as I like to call it…
Carpe your life.
If it resonates, it’s already yours.
Welcome home.
Stay Trendie,
India