The Delicate Balance Between Being a Girlboss and Just a Tired Boss

There was a time when “girlboss” meant strutting into your day with iced coffee in one hand, a color-coded planner in the other, and enough ambition to power a small city. Fast forward a few years (and several collective traumas later), and now? “Girlboss” feels less like empowerment and more like a distant memory of when we thought capitalism was quirky.

Because let’s be real: most days, I’m not girlbossing. I’m just bossing myself around to shower before noon. Some mornings, my only strategic business move is deciding whether to wear the “good” sweatpants for Zoom meetings or save them for laundry day.

But that’s the thing — being a “tired boss” is kind of the new era. We’re still doing the work, still paying the bills, still carrying entire group projects of life on our weary shoulders. The difference is, we’ve traded Pinterest-perfect ambition for survival mode chic. Instead of “rise and grind,” it’s more like “get up, complain, and proceed.”

And honestly? That counts. Sometimes success is starting a business, and sometimes success is microwaving leftovers instead of ordering takeout again. Sometimes it’s launching your next big project, and sometimes it’s closing your laptop before midnight. Both are wins.

So no, I’m not a girlboss anymore. I’m not leading the hustle revolution. I’m not building an empire before breakfast. I’m just here, managing what I can, trying not to cry in public, and keeping the Wi-Fi bill paid. That’s not failure — that’s boss-level resilience.

At the end of the day, being a tired boss means you’re still showing up, even when it’s messy, imperfect, and fueled entirely by coffee and sarcasm. And maybe that’s the most powerful boss move of all.