As usual, we're thinking exactly alike, though I don't think I could have said it better!!! 

Mary Kay makes you so interested in THINGS, and nothing is ever enough. You always have to think bigger, better, more, more, more. This spills over into every aspect of your life. There's no way it couldn't. I did not like the person I became for many reasons, and this is just one of them.

I was never content in Mary Kay, always feeling like what I had in my life was never enough (because MK could always provide MORE). In a weird way, because of that, I now know what content feels like. I don't think I did prior to Mary Kay, so I'll start my list with I have more:

A feeling of contentment
Control of my time - real control, like knowing what real priorities are, how to say no, and not wasting time that I could be spending with my family
More friends (the real kind)!
More self-confidence (more from the contentment part, and knowing that I'm never letting anyone else tell me I need something else in my life again - I direct that, not them)
More good moods
More stress-free days - whole days (weeks!) without stress!
More pants (hee hee)
More reflection and exploration of who I am (not who someone else wants me to be)
More pursuit of what interests me - books, science, music, space travel, more books! All things that had to fall by the wayside to pursue MK. You lose who you are (again) when you give up your personal interests.
More happiness - I'm just a happy person now.

And yes, generosity, too. I like that you said that. I think in MK nothing is done with the spirit of total generosity - it's more of a "what can I get by giving this..." - new recruit? she'll be interested in diq? she has to owe me? I'll look good to others? It's a weird system. My Sr used to actually do a training where she equated people to a checking account (anyone want to at that?). That you have to make "deposits" into them - i.e. show up when you don't want to, spend time "loving on them" (gag), write them notes, invest yourself in them, so that you can make "withdrawals" when you need something! So, you're not doing anything because you love that person - you're not doing anything for them/about them at all. It's all about what you can get out of them later when YOU want something.

Baroness- wow.  Your list is incredible, and so are your sentiments!
And the fact that directors sometimes make us feel guilty for NOT wanting more!  As if being driven to succeed were the most important thing in life!  How empty!


Lawdy!  I'm so glad to be out of that loop too!  It's amazing how much you can do when you're not thinking of all the things you're NOT doing!!!

I think if you are constantly surrounded by people who are always longing for more-more-more, you can't help but be discontented.  I see this a lot in the big swim/tennis neighborhoods around here.  If somebody gets a new car, then the next person on the block has to get a better one...and so on and so on and nobody is ever happy because there is always the newest and latest thing to long for.  Sadly, this seems to be the bedrock of Mary Kay, because if you're happy and content, then you're not movin' up.

That's why I live in a neighborhood full of old people.  They all have plenty of money but you'd never know it if you need to see it "show". They have everything they want, their houses are paid for, most of them own businesses or are lawyers or doctors (or were) and they don't have to prove anything to anybody, so they don't. 

I think we are all a lot happier that way.  We just don't fit in the swim/tennis neighborhood mentality at all.