How Mary Kay Affected My Health

I have had health issues since the age of 21. I tried over the years working different types of jobs to find one that I could do with the health problems that I have. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Interstitial Cystitis (a bladder disease), so being reliable has always been a problem since these illnesses can cause me to be bedridden at any time.

When I started Mary Kay I was still working a full-time job. I was very pregnant and wanted to be home with the baby. I fell for the "short-term sacrifice for long-term gain" speeches I was given and busted my butt in Mary Kay so that I could quit my full-time job when my son was 10 months old. I was actually in fear of losing my job because I had missed too many days due to illness. I was feeling the Mary Kay push early on in my business, but was caught up in it all and just knew that I would only have to do this for a short time. I was burning the candle at both ends and my real job was suffering.

After I quit my full-time job, I was working my Mary Kay business 40 hours a week. But it always felt like more because I couldn't turn it off. I was so caught up in the "short-term sacrifice" that I was not listening to my body's warnings to slow down. After working Mary Kay full-time for 6 months, I was in DIQ (Director-In-Qualification) and car qualifications to earn the use of the Grand Am. My first day of DIQ I was in the hospital for a foot operation. I spent the next three weeks on crutches and was not allowed to walk on my foot at all. I still worked, though. I felt the stress of DIQ and I still tried to hold appointments and recruiting interviews the whole time.

I finished car qualifications in May and DIQ in June. My last few weeks in DIQ I was really feeling bad. My director called me one morning and wanted to know how I was doing. I told her I was too tired to work that day. She was panic stricken and said, "You can't afford to be tired right now! You can be tired in a couple of weeks when this is all over!" No matter how hard I tried to explain that I could not continue to push my body this way, I was talked out of it with promises of success as a director and that I could slow down when June was over.

Two months after I debuted as a director, I ended up bedridden. I had pushed my body to the point of complete exhaustion and I could not even get out of bed to get a shower. My mother had to move in and take care of our son, my husband, and the house. Chronic Fatigue is very debilitating and just trying to talk on the phone is impossible. I was literally too tired to speak. I lost 25 pounds during this time too because I couldn't even eat. I couldn't think, I couldn't do anything.

After about 3 months in bed, I started to get back a little bit of energy and I was stressed because when I couldn't work my new unit wasn't working either. After you debut, you lose about 1/3 of your unit anyway and I had lost most of mine. I tried to get back out there and build my unit back up, but I would end up bedridden again. The constant push and pull, stress, and never-ending expenses was just too much for my already weak body.

Of course, my illness was minimized and higher ups in Mary Kay couldn't understand why I couldn't work when Rena Tarbet, a famous, top National Sales Director in Mary Kay, and others with cancer continue to work their Mary Kay businesses. After trying to succeed as a director, and it just not working out for me, I gave up my directorship 1 1/2 years after debuting. I was unable to work consistently for so long that I just couldn't get my unit built back up. No matter how hard I tried, my health issues always pushed me back down.

I stayed a consultant for one year after giving up my directorship, but I had already lost faith in "the dream". I felt so betrayed because I ruined my health - and for what? For debt and the chance to ever work again. My health has improved some since I gave up Mary Kay because I don't have all of the stress. But I can never work again. My body just will not recover from all of the damage that was done during my strive for directorship and financial freedom that never came.

I am hurt, angry, and just plain feel stupid. I have put my family through so much financially and emotionally because I believed that I could be successful in Mary Kay and believed all of the lies and manipulation I was fed. Now I can't even work to try and help recoup the financial damage we have incurred.

I will never again be a part of any direct sales company. I may have been naive once, but it will never happen to me again.