- I don't wanna be awake.
- I'm already failing.
(Joelle sighing)
This seems like it's gonna be a harder week than I thought.
- What's up, y'all? I'm Joelle.
- Hi, I'm Jessica Torres.
- And for the next five days, we're gonna be attempting
to transform into
- [Both] that girl.
- That girl is an internet trend based off of self-care.
- They journal, they have this green smoothies.
- Waking up to see the sunrise, drinking lemon water,
and just being super, super productive.
- They kind of, or who you aspire to be.
- There's definitely been a lot of backlash about this trend
because people say it sets
really unrealistic expectations for women.
We are gonna follow the that girl habits
and see if it actually helps or harms our wellbeing.
- Kinda stresses me out to think about doing this,
but I hope that it helps me pick up one healthy habit
whether it's working out or journaling.
- We'll be doing the routine daily,
but also we're gonna see if it impacts our following
or our engagement on social media.
- Let's see what happens.
(playful music)
- I don't wanna be awake.
- Good morning and welcome to day one of being that girl.
- Okay, I'm awake.
I feel like in every productive that girl routine,
they make their bed in the morning
'cause that's supposed to help you
increase your productivity for the day.
So here we go.
- I'm already failing.
You should wake up at seven, 7:30.
The one day that I need to wake up at seven, 7:30,
I woke up at nine.
But I'm gonna do my bed, make it look aesthetic.
- We're supposed to post something on Instagram or whatever,
every point in this routine.
I don't know what I'm doing.
Take a little photo, add a filter.
- I'm feeling the pressure to be the it girl
and I'm actually cleaning my apartment
before I even show anyone anything.
Okay, let me show you, oh, wait.
Let me clean the mirror first.
All right, now I can show you my outfit
and it is this cute little biker shorts and this sports bra.
I'm gonna jump rope for 10 minutes or so.
(upbeat music)
- So obviously, going to the gym and working out in general
is a very important part of the that girl routine
so I'm getting ready to go now.
- I just worked out for a few minutes
because it's already 10
and I'm delayed with my day because I had to prep
to make it look aesthetically pleasing.
Okay, so I was about to do my breakfast
and like show an aesthetically pleasing smoothie,
but guess who forgot to do the dishes from last night?
Ugh! (chuckles)
- That girl always wears like a real outfit, real clothes,
as opposed to sweat pants
which is what I would normally wear on a work day.
Before I get ready for my day,
another important part of being that girl, self-care.
And a big part of that as I've seen on YouTube is skincare.
I feel like that girl wears makeup
on a pretty regular basis
which is something that I don't do.
I wanna add a little bit of time to my morning routine.
- It's gonna be 11 and I'm finally about
to have some breakfast.
And while I have breakfast,
I'm going to journal and try and set my mood for the day
and do my to-do list even though I'm very, very behind.
- So to get started with our day
and since that girl is all about productivity,
I am going to write a little to-do list every day.
- I just finished journaling and I still need to shower,
do my skincare, makeup.
This is a full-time job.
I just finished applying my skin care,
brushing out my hair, showered,
and I filmed it all for TikTok.
Probably just lost an hour doing that.
This seems like it's gonna be a harder week than I thought.
- One of my favorite parts about any challenge is the food.
Okay, so this is my breakfast for today.
My little toast, my little smoothie.
Okay, obviously, before I can eat this,
gotta story it.
- This is the outfit that I decided to wear today
that I think is aesthetically pleasing.
I'm wearing pinks and greens and some matching pink sandals.
So now, I'm gonna go to the grocery store
and get some aesthetically pleasing ingredients
to make tonight's dinner.
I'm excited to eat 'cause it looks really good,
but not something that I would normally do.
So it makes me feel like I'm being fake and showing people
things that I'm not actually doing.
- It is the end of day one.
I don't think I did a very good job. (chuckles)
I tried to story every aspect of my life and make it cute,
but it's hard to be cute.
Like that doesn't come naturally to me on social media.
Ooh.
Okay, we'll see.
We'll see how it goes.
(upbeat music)
This is not getting easier.
(Joelle sighing)
I'm sleepy.
I just came to my gym, it was closed.
Today, it doesn't open 'til 7:30 and it's like 6:30.
So I (sighs).
Okay, time to go back home.
- So day one was a very stressful day for me.
Today, I'm gonna try and be a little bit better about it,
but it was a lot of pressure.
I've been looking at the breakfast of the that girl
on Instagram and YouTube, and to me,
they all feel really American and like, not diverse.
So today, for breakfast, I will be making an arepa.
I made my first arepas by the way,
I've never made arepas before.
They seem okay, but on my social media,
they're only seeing the final results.
They don't see the mess that I did.
- This is a lot of makeup for me to be wearing
on like, a regular day,
but it's nice to have a reason to wear makeup.
Oh, I think I'm gonna do my hair
to look extra cute for y'all
Alrighty.
Time to plan my day.
I forgot to share a photo on Instagram
after my little get ready routine.
So I'm just gonna do a selfie 'cause I mean,
I put so much effort in this makeup and hair
that someone might as well see it.
- Breakfast is done.
I feel like I spent more time taking photos of my breakfast
than I spend time eating it.
It doesn't feel right and the pressure that I have
to make it look good is too much for me.
- Alrighty, what do I wanna get done today?
Ooh, I should probably study Korean a little bit today
because I have not done that in a long time.
I'm trying to teach myself Korean.
For breakfast today, I think I'm gonna make some oatmeal.
Look how healthy this looks.
We go to get my photo of this for Instagram
and some natural sunlight over here.
- It's the day two and like my cute outfit
is the same one as yesterday.
So now, I'm feeling a little bit self conscious about it.
Should I have like a cuter outfit?
Should it be something a little more girly?
Like, why do I now have this expectations
to be someone that I'm not.
This is the part where it starts feeling fake.
- So much later in the day than I wanted it to be
when I was starting to study Korean,
but we're gonna try to squeeze in a little lesson
before I go see my friend for dinner.
(Joelle speaking in Korean)
(instructor speaking Korean) (Joelle speaking Korean)
- Okay, so I just did my 10-minute workout
and I ended up posting a little photo with me and my water
and like, I don't know,
there's something that doesn't feel right about this to me.
In a way, it's a little bit triggering
'cause it's making me feel like I'm not enough,
I'm not doing enough, and I'm not capable or qualified
to do this kind of lifestyle.
- I unfortunately, ran out of time
before finishing my Korean lesson,
but now, I am actually meeting a friend for dinner
which I'm super excited about.
Somehow, on top of everything,
staying super productive, being very well put together,
that girl always has a thriving social life.
Oh my gosh, it looks so good.
Hey, Kenny. (laughs)
Cheers, friend.
It's really good.
- I posted my little outfit for the day
and then I was going through the messages that I received
and I got a message from someone on TikTok,
a comment saying like, "Oh, it looks like such a serene day
and like, so nice."
And in my brain I'm like,
"No, it was literally a nightmare."
Something that I have noticed is that
I literally have been going to pages
that look like that girl and feeling bad about my content
'cause I'm like, I don't look like them,
my content doesn't look like them, I feel inadequate,
this has not been a great experience
and we're only in day two.
(lighthearted music)
It is day three and I've decided
that I cannot be part of this anymore.
Yesterday as I was preparing my food,
I realized that I was starting to feel guilt and shame.
Quite honestly, it was just triggering my eating disorder
so I've decided that this is a little too toxic for me
to even continue for the rest of the week
so I'm gonna have to step out for this one.
- Hi, it is day three (upbeat music)
being like that girl.
I will say, we're here, not as bad.
Alrighty, it is now time to plan my day.
I think that I want to journal a little bit more
like, intentionally.
Oh, I also need to make a little TikTok,
need to edit the TikTok slash reel that I'm filming
of today's like, daily routine and posting that.
I am gonna start journaling,
which was one of the things on my to-do list today.
When I write out what's happened,
it gives me the opportunity to just like process time.
After journaling, another thing that I should do today
is edit the reel of the footage that I took
of my morning routine, I guess
and try to make one of those that girl TikToks,
but it feels kind of like imposter-ish for me to do that
because this is not what I do on a regular basis.
This is not how it really is my life.
It's just for this video.
Since I posted my reel pretty late last night,
I thought I would check up on how it's doing.
It has surprisingly more views
than I think my regular reels get, but fewer likes.
Today, after work,
I think I'm gonna do something that's very that girl.
I'm gonna make a vision board.
I've never made a vision board before.
It's after work, after dinner,
and I'm gonna start working on my little vision board.
It's all entertainment-related images
because that is the only thing
that consumes my brain right now.
This is a lot of people I look up to.
I actually think this is really interesting.
I have high hopes for what the future could hold.
(fun upbeat music)
Last day of being that girl.
Here's today's outfit.
Thrifted, old-like graphic tee.
This reminds me of like retro MTV graphics.
I'm just impressed with myself
that I've been wearing real pants like, everyday this week.
Honestly, I just want to have a restful day.
I feel like I've been kind of like,
loopy and not getting super good sleep.
Okay, breakfast today is another green juice, some berries,
and I tried to make like a cute egg sandwich.
My biggest fail for making this was that
I was gonna try to make like a really cute
sunny-side up egg, but I popped the yolk.
But anyways, time to story my sad, popped yoke.
Sitting down, ready to work.
Made myself a little matcha for some caffeine
and 'cause I feel like matcha
is like a very that girl thing.
I just made this from scratch though.
So not trying to spend $6 on my latte.
It is the end of the day of day five
of the That Girl Challenge
and I am so glad that it's over.
Today also, I definitely gotten the most response
from people that I know personally
about my social media posting.
One of my coworkers even mentioned during a meeting,
I've been posting a lot of really good looking food lately
and she was like, "Wow, I should step up my food game."
But I did feel bad that the response to that triggered was,
"Oh, I should step up what I'm doing."
There's no need for us to compare,
but that's what social media does.
For me, when I think about
how I impact other people through my behavior,
it is something that I do wanna think about.
- I had to quit the experiment early because
it was really affecting my mental health.
I felt so much pressure to try
and be like these other accounts that I found online,
and it made me feel so inadequate from like my meals
to how long, how much I was working out, how I look.
And it just reminds me that it's so important to be yourself
and to be seen online,
no matter how big or small of a following you may have.
It creates an impact no matter what.
It felt really weird and wrong to try and promote something
that I knew that I couldn't even have.
- Honestly, this weekend didn't feel like
anything particularly special
except there's just the added layer of the stress
of trying to capture everything.
It just felt so unnatural and like, performative to say,
"Hey, look at this super nice,
put-together productive lifestyle I have.
There's so much variety to what we find productive
or fulfilling in life and it's just important for us
to be able to acknowledge that
and figure that out for ourselves.
(upbeat music)
♪ Hey, hey ♪