Much of a student’s life in 2025 consists of romanticizing everything around them.
From buying yourself flowers to studying in a coffee shop, much of this tendency grew in popularity during COVID-19 when people needed motivation during quarantine. Now that TikTok includes more “A day in my life” and “POV” content, more of us are beginning to see the world through rose-colored glasses.
TikTok’s #romanticizeyourlife has around 427.7K posts. Instagram stands with 283K posts. The trend constantly surrounds student life at a pleasant desk decorated with plants, pastel stationery and a keyboard that has the softest clicks whenever you type.
Other posts feature women in dresses similar to the ones found in “Bridgerton” or a Jane Austen novel. This style was deemed “cottagecore” during the pandemic and is still popular today. Thrifting for old clothes and trinkets and searching recipes for sourdough bread continue to flood #cottagecore.
Creators and commenters alike have found that these videos motivate them to cook or bake more — a task most adults have to encounter every day. For example, a TikTok user tracy.tracy0212 made a video titled “What I eat in a day.” The comments are flooded with people complimenting her cooking, asking for more tips or recipes and more.
Much of TikTok’s romanticizing of life falls under studying. It’s something that all students must do but dread doing. The motivating audios, montages of papers with a red A+ and late-night timelapses in a library really appeal to viewers.
I am very fond of these videos, and I think they really encourage the community of students on TikTok. It’s so interesting how the tone and sound of a video that’s less than 10 seconds can fuel me with the motivation I need to complete such a grueling task.
Why are we so attracted to the image or video of someone else’s day in their life? How exactly do these videos motivate us?
Nicola Grissom, associate professor in the psychology department at the University of Minnesota, researches goal-directed behaviors and how to maintain motivation. Grissom said motivation for long-term goals is a challenge our brain faces.
“On one hand, we see students studying as a benefit to them because it’s helping them with their long-term goals, which is to do well in classes and earn the skills and contacts needed in those classes,” Grissom said. “On the other hand, it’s a really good goal, but it’s really far away, and it can be very hard to maintain goals that are really far away.”
Grissom said the motivation circuits in the brain are not prepared to act in terms of months and years, but instead from moments to hours. That’s when the question of how to stay motivated for that long comes into play.
Grissom used the example of aesthetically decorated desks, which can be very helpful to those who have trouble staying motivated to study. TikTok creators may feel rewarded from the feedback and, therefore, use it to continue studying.
However, there are caveats to this reward-based system.
If the goal to study morphs into a goal for likes and popularity, then it can be detrimental to the creator, according to Grissom. It can get in the way of studying and become stressful, in which case, a new method of motivation would be needed.
“You have to be really careful and honest with yourself. Like, ‘Am I actually gonna do this? Is it actually going to help me or is something that I’m doing instead of studying that feels like studying?’” Grissom said.
I’ve always found myself romanticizing my life with the help of music, and according to the curated YouTube playlists with titles like “you’re writing love letters in an ancient library during autumn,” others agree.
Almost by instinct, certain songs, colors and celebrities relate to certain emotions. Little research is needed to tell you that a majority of Generation Z won’t choose Laufey for workout music nor Charli XCX for that heartbreak feeling in the rain. Grissom said the music and visuals can definitely play a part in short-term motivation, especially.
Blake Hoffmann, a second-year student at the University, said he likes to romanticize his life as if it were a TV show.
“When you’re doing these normal tasks, there’s not like a soundtrack playing in your life 24/7,” Hoffmann said. “But making it prettier or more aesthetic makes it seem like the task you’re doing that’s mundane is actually a lot more glamorous.”
Hoffmann said he thinks there’s nothing wrong with having long-term goals as long as you can find motivation to simultaneously handle short-term goals. As most of TikTok is filled with “study with me” and “pull an all-nighter with me for my final exam,” it can get overwhelming. The long-term goal of getting your degree, for example, should be accompanied by the motivation to complete smaller tasks as well.
Humans are driven by small rewards, according to Grissom. The small reward received from completing a small task, let’s say washing the dishes, can train the brain to be motivated for bigger tasks.
For the creators, Grissom leaves them with this parting message:
“As long as people are able to be thoughtful and honest with themselves about what motivates them, then yes, let yourself be motivated by having your beautiful situation and sharing it with others,” Grissom said. “It doesn’t mean that your life is perfect, but equally, make sure you are using what actually motivates you to achieve the goals that are really important to you.”
Although some TikToks discourage “toxic positivity,” or romanticizing too much, most people agree that romanticizing life is a choice that doesn’t hurt the people around them.
So if you need to listen to Lady Gaga while walking to your least favorite class or personalize your kitchen to match a fairy’s, go ahead.
Wear that sundress to the grocery store. Go browse a bookstore while listening to Hozier through outdated, wired earbuds. Light that new $20 candle. Hang eucalyptus in your shower.
If all these acts make you feel more inclined to study, cook, go outside or whatnot, by all means, go wild, child.