Soft life
Etymology
Popularized by Nigerian women online and in the diaspora around 2020–2021, initially describing a life of comfort and financial ease, and adopted more broadly in African American Vernacular English usage as a counter to hustle culture and the expectation of relentless struggle.
noun · /SAWFT lyf/
A lifestyle deliberately organized around ease, comfort, and low stress rather than struggle.
What it names
It names a conscious rejection of hustle and hardship as the price of a good life — choosing peace, rest, and gentleness as goals in themselves, often after a period of grind.
Example
I left the startup grind for a soft life — fewer meetings, more mornings that belong to me.
Related idea
Where hustle culture treats hardship as proof of worth, the soft life treats ease as the point.