We're Off.
It all started about a year ago, when the muscle group at the base of my right thumb went from normal to chronically knotted and in excruciating pain. At its worst, I couldn’t pick up a plate and carry it to the dining table. This was a wakeup call for me: I was on my phone way too much. Social media and work blurred lines and this was the result. My body protesting, contracting, cringing. From that moment on, I decided to use my phone less. So, I did. Less texting, less direct messaging, less email, less scrolling. Less and less and less.
Last year was the year it became clear to me that staying on social media was damaging to me. Physically, my body was giving me all the signals: my right hand was impaired, my body would feel unsettled, my mind would race. I became weary as a consumer and introspective as an entrepreneur. “If I can’t stand to be advertised to, why would I want to put our customers through this?” Paying for Meta ads felt entirely useless and misaligned.
Then, I had a dream: a new way of connecting, a new way of doing business. A new old way. The way that brings us back all the way to the original ethos of GRESSA:
The way that allows a woman to relax. What happens when a woman is relaxed? Her right thumb isn’t spasmed, for one. She is at peace. She doesn’t post for likes and acceptance. She knows who she is. She doesn’t compare herself with anyone. She doesn’t get tempted to compare herself because she isn’t scrolling a hundred filtered faces per day. Despite what we tell ourselves, we do end up comparing. That’s a human weakness these ‘social’ platforms are designed to prey on. Then they sell you a solution that will release good-feel hormones to get you through the day. Then, they promote more posts that will make you feel like you aren’t quite enough. And the cycle continues.
Gressa started in 2009. At the root of our ethos lays the belief that you, the woman in the mirror, are enough. Moreover, you are everything.
Early in 2023, I was convinced that I was on a mission to remind our social media friends that they are enough. I didn’t gracefully say a mantra or an affirmation, “you are enough.” I feel like everyone says that and then proceeds to hate themselves. I used real life examples and ideas of how, perhaps, some practices that women put themselves through for beauty are harmful to their long-term well-being. For the first time ever I questioned myself. Why do I keep on bringing this up? It felt useless and insignificant.
One morning I woke up and the answer came to me clear as day: if a woman were to quit social media today, she wouldn’t see what so many other women are doing. She would see a few women in passing and would mostly mind her own daily business. An app whose purpose is to get us to compare lives, faces, curated life moments will never, ever, truly be a positive influence. We will never have the waistline of this other woman, our sourdough starter isn’t as bubbly as the other woman’s, our skin isn’t as glossy as this other woman, our dance moves aren’t as good as another. Then, I simply looked at GRESSA’s purpose and mission: “We wan’t to see you through.”
The first thing to do, would be to risk it all and show the way.
Offline.
Back to the future.
Into you. Into us.
We are here.
I am thrilled and terrified and NEVER been more sure of anything (well, other than GRESSA is the shit). We’re off. Way off. And we are going to the moon. Will you join us?
