One of the things my brain likes to do is imagine if things were different; to imagine a new kind of world. Sure, it's a little bit dreamy, but it's hard to change the things we don’t like if we can't imagine something different.
So, when an email came through my inbox talking about exactly this I felt seen, less alone, and inspired. That email came from The Period Company, of all places. This is a company I recently came across when looking for menstrual underwear. Their prices were reasonable as compared to the well-known Thinx, so I decided to give them a try.
Anyway, I'm not here to tell you about their underwear, I'm here to tell you about this post. Here's how it starts:
When you first start a company, there’s a well beaten pathway - investment, make product, hire advertising agency, get bigger, investment, get bigger, more investment.
Five years ago, we got a little money, we made a product that we loved, then we looked down this well beaten path and wondered, do we really want to go down there?
This grabbed me. And honestly, how I was even reading this I don't know. The number of emails I get from companies I've purchased something from is large and usually they just get deleted. Somehow, I was drawn to read this one.
Anyway, as a wanna-be entrepreneur I think about the idea of doing business differently ALL THE TIME. I also see other folks in my industry (coaches & healers) asking the same questions. Kelsey Mech shares pretty openly about how she's approaching this in her business. We are asking ourselves - How can we do business in a way that resists the system while having to work within that system?
I think about this idea of bucking the system in my personal life as well. There are things I've taken for granted as "the way things are" that I now question and long to see change. Things like toxic productivity, rugged individualism, endless growth, etc. How can I resist these things in my own life while also having to live in a culture that values them?
So I loved what The Period Company says next:
We wouldn’t make a company that existed in this world - we’d make a company that existed in a different world, an imaginary world, where community and planet comes before making money, where the story of periods is shame-free and full of understanding and respect, and where we might not be heading for apocalypse, but through agency, optimism and a lot of dynamism, can turn this story around.
Then (emphasis mine):
Why? Because unless you can imagine something you can’t get there. Imagination, as far out as it sounds, is the first step in making something real
This. This is what I keep thinking about myself. I have to be able to imagine something different in order to start building it.
A lot of my writing is that kind of imagining. It's dreamy. It's like being transported into an imaginary world where different things are valued. And I have to believe that if I keep writing about this place, if I keep inviting people into it, if I keep dreaming about the world I dream is possible - maybe, just maybe it will start to come true.
Like The Period Company says:
We made this world. We did. Somebody imagined all of these systems that are failing, that hurt people and the planet. Now it’s time to imagine a better world, because that’s how we make it real
Heck yeah. Let's do it! Are you in?
(In case you are curious, I'm happy with my new period co undies!)