Crazy Career Moves? ‘Delulu Is the Solulu’
When she applied for a job at a creative agency that worked with the snack maker Mondelez, Kyra James wanted to throw in something sweet. A big fan of the company’s Sour Patch Kids, James mocked up a screenshot of a video call with some of the tart, sugar-encrusted gummies. The colorful waifs waved back at her.
The Atlanta-based social-media producer says she wanted recruiters to see that she already had buy-in from a key stakeholder: the Kids themselves. Some might call it guts, or say James was making her own luck. But the 27-year-old calls it something different: being “delulu," online shorthand for the word “delusional." The term has exploded on social media to describe leaps that are riskier than what most would take in their careers, relationships and other parts of their lives.
James, who is from the British Virgin Islands, says delusions are necessary sometimes. “When you come from a tiny, tiny, tiny speck on the map," she says, “sometimes the idea of manifesting your dreams internationally—you have to be a little delulu to believe it." People are embracing and documenting their delulu online—as well as the catchphrase “delulu is the solulu"—as a way to challenge themselves and make risky career moves that they hope will pay off. Some see it as another form of manifesting, another way to affirm that whatever dreams they have will eventually come true.
As many U.S. employees feel angry, stressed and disengaged, delulu is taking off in the workplace. People are seeking jobs that pay more in the midst of inflation, the return of student-loan payments and the ever-elusive dream of owning a home.
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