"Pink Doubt"

First, let me say that personally my eyes have been opened to the Mary Kay Opportunity, thanks to the MKSurvivors group. Negative? Well, in my opinion, yes, BUT... I truly appreciate their stories and thoughts and I don't believe that I would have the frame of mind that I do without all of the reading there.

I joined Mary Kay because I have used and loved the products for years & I really wanted the discount. I had no interest in pursuing a full time MK career, because I have a very nice full time job in the corporate world and children. But frankly sometimes it all seems so habitual and draining I don't know how I will make it to the next day.

Mary Kay offered me something different. A chance to get away from the norm, have some fun, maybe make a little cash and get a discount on products that I already use. So it wasn't long before I found myself going to everything. I was spending more and more time away from my home and family. And I have to say that despite the guilt, I really enjoyed the meetings and events because of the sheer positivity and energy it brought into my life.

Not long into my Mary Kay adventure I found the MK Survivors Group. I began reading their posts and couldn't believe my eyes. I was almost in denial about what I was reading. How could this experience that to me had seemed to drop in my lap been so misleading, deceitful and outright evil at times for so many women? I became "judgmental" almost and decided that many of them were just bitter and the exception not the rule. So I quit reading the posts for a few months because I felt almost as if it was brainwashing of a different sort. (BUT...if the truth be known, the things I read there never left my mind because deep down I knew they were right. )

I went on to Career Conference and had a ball. I got so excited and decided maybe I would pursue this adventure a little further. After all, the women I observed seemed so "genuine" and "sincere". I wasn't losing anything, right? (Little did I know what I could have lost!) Besides, I wasn't really willing to accept the things I read on the MK Survivors board. I began to get obsessed with this opportunity and suddenly my thinking changed and I starting thinking that leaving my J.O.B. to become a Director didn't sound so bad.

My family didn't share this opinion. In fact, they convinced me that I was attending too much and need to cut back on some of the activities.

So I called my Director and, frightened to disappoint her, told her that I would no longer be attending my weekly meetings, to which she responded that if I really wanted to make it with MK that I should get a babysitter for my kids because as I am sure many of you have heard before.... "Those who show up in MK, go up." With that one statement, I realized I was fast becoming the classic example of brainwashing that so many of the MK Survivors group members were talking about. It all became clear.

Not long after that, I came back to the MK Survivors group and started reading again. I went back in the archives and read earlier stories. I started to come back to my senses. I was now reading things that were said to me and/or others in my Director's unit that I thought were so genuine then. Then I read about all of the jewelry sites that Directors buy their "prizes" from. I couldn't believe that by placing a large order, one could win a $2 pair of earrings. Wow, I really was soooo wrong.

I will say that I was turned off at first because of what I perceived as negativity, but I finally realized that they have a powerful and important message to share. I believe that it should carefully and purposefully be delivered but delivered just the same... I cannot deny that the MK Survivors group is primarily responsible for my change of heart and I thank them all for that!