Don't Mistaken My Kindness as Weakness

Hi there!It's mid-January in 2018 ALREADY. Boy did this ever come quickly. I had my first vision board party yesterday with a bunch of incredible women doing amazing things for themselves. These women are not mediocre and far from being ordinary. Being in a room with these types of people light me up and give me, even more, energy and inspiration to work on my goals and dreams.This post is about how many people mistaken someone's kindness as weakness. I must say that for a very long portion of my life, my people pleasing tendencies had gotten me into trouble. It's not an attractive trait, and people can smell it off of you. It's almost like they have this thought, "hm....weak boundaries, let's see what I can get from this person." Since we are all human beings, this type of people pleasing saboteur can, in fact, have you feeling taken advantage of by others if you do not set up proper boundaries. I ran into this repetitive pattern quite often in 2017, and I feel like I finally get it now. Well, there's always more work to do. We all want to be helpful, supportive, offer our thoughts and opinions, and maybe sometimes unsolicited advice to contribute to being a "good" person. I understand the intentions might be well intended. However, there is a HUGE problem with being too kind to people. I stood up a lot for myself last year which is something I wasn't necessarily prepared to do. I was taught to put my head down, wait for things to happen and do what people ask of you because you are in some shape or form obligated to do so. In the meantime, work your ass off until it hurts because eventually, it will pay off. The question I could have asked myself earlier on was, what is my payoff?......Yeah, that didn't work out for me the way I hoped. I was left feeling depleted, not appreciated or respected, devalued, and always as if I didn't have enough to bring to the table because I still needed MORE to be successful in my career and love life. Two significant areas of my life btw.That's a nice combination of not feeling good enough all the time. No wonder I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something different than the status quo in the past 1.5 years.

As for 2018, after my creative vision board party, it has offered me two themes.

A few photos of my vision board, hooray!

[gallery ids="1932,1933,1934" type="rectangular"]THEME 1: Saying HELL YES or HELL NO to anything that comes my way. There is no in-between feeling. Anything less than an eight on a scale from 1 - 10 is now a NO decision. Anything eight and above is a HELL YES move forward!THEME 2: Say No to the Chase and Yes to Receiving. I chased people and jobs for years that offered very little fulfillment, lack of respect, and reciprocity in these relationships. I'm acutely aware now as seeing myself with impact, value, and leadership. Now, I only want to build relationships with people who understand that and who are supportive. There are no games. There is only mutual respect and easy breezy flow. To ME, that's when I know I am on the right path and moving in the right direction. You can feel it.There is a ton of power in saying no to opportunities and people that just don't feel right. Let's take money as an example since this is a topic everyone can relate to in some shape or form.Asking for money gets easier over time. When I first started asking for money in my business, the reactions from people were hilarious. Typically, there is an excuse for why people don't have the money right now to pay you but maybe in two months or three months when things settle down. Or, they may say we don't have the budget to spend that kind of money for your services but, if you want to do it, and are willing to do it cheaper than we can make that happen! Keep in mind, the people I was asking money for in exchange for my services I was giving WAY too much of my time and free services than I probably should have entertained. My many acts of kindness, weak boundaries, and being SO fixated on the outcome, self-sabotaged because these potential clients did not see me as valuable enough to pay the price points I was asking. Now that also has to do with my mastery of sales at the time which is a work in progress I must say! However, I was too kind, and these acts of kindness were viewed as weakness, and I consistently questioned my worth and value.How did this leave me feeling? Validating my thoughts and story of I'm not good enough in some way. I also believed that there aren't enough opportunities to draw from, so I better offer something different and do it anyways.I needed to experience this recurring pattern consciously over and over again until it became easy to say no and easy to say yes. Now when I ask for money, if the answer is no I move on without disappointment, fear, or anxiety that I won't be able to make it. I move on powerfully and with energy because I trust that my people are waiting for me to reach out and work together without resistance or fear. (well maybe some fear!) Clients need to WANT to work with you.The same lessons can be used in dating. I no longer entertain the game. I say yes to men who have respect and are genuine with their actions. Hell, we even have phone conversations instead of "texting." Texting is majorly dull to me now. Please stop asking me personal questions through a text. I just can't. I'm not the "nice" girl I used to be because I see myself as someone who deserves a love that feels extraordinary and it's changed the game entirely for me. When you begin to shift your perspective and learn to say no without fear of scarcity, your life will open up.If you are a single woman looking for love and tired of swiping right or left, join me on February 8th in Toronto for a women's love circle. Early bird tickets are on sale now until February 1st.

Click here to RSVP your tickets

Be prepared to be cracked wide open at this women's love circle and leave with a solid strategy to take your love life to the next level. It's my mission to help women learn a new way of being in love so they can enjoy the process instead of beating themselves up for the countless disappointments. Find the love you deserve, not what you've been taught to justify. I can't wait to meet you and I am so excited to talk about your LOVE story :)That's all for now!xoxo Sonia