How Can You Prevent Vision Vampires From Draining Your Energy?
I just got off the telephone with a colleague who was asking me what was going on in my life. I decided to tell her about the new business venture I’ve embarked on called the Trump Network. I was totally engaged in telling her and could tell from her responses she wasn’t really interested in knowing about the business or the product line. Suddenly I could feel a tightening in my heart and my enthusiasm start to dissipate. My colleague was what some in the network call a dream snatcher and I’ve renamed “vision vampire”. Her lack of interest and disparaging comment about the namesake of the business bummed me out. I could feel my energy shift. I found myself on the defensive. “You know about residual income,” I said. I want to create residual income for my retirement. Though I knew she wanted to get off the phone, I still wanted her at least to know that even if she wasn’t interested in the products, (I’d already come to the realization she wouldn’t be interested in the business opportunity), perhaps she might think about referrals for me. I know better than this. There is nothing worse than getting into a control duel. The call ended and I felt awful. I suspect she felt relieved. Vision Vampires are people who knowingly or unwittingly drain your energy. Sometimes they suck it out literally with their negative views like “that won’t work”, “are you crazy”? This even though you were not asking their opinion or permission. Other times, like this one, it’s subtle. It was more about the tone and innuendo I picked up from her responses that triggered my reaction. It wasn’t so much her, as the fact that I turned over my power to her. I did not stand grounded in my own energy.
Sharing your dream or your excitement about something needs to be done when you are in a fully aware state. There are many people in the world who don’t want to see or experience your excitement because they have given up their own dreams. Or, sometimes a person says they want to hear you but really doesn’t have the time or interest at the moment. Whatever the reason the result is the same. You get zapped.
Here are a few tips to protect you from the vision vampire. One thing is to be sure you are coming from a grounded place inside yourself. Obviously I wasn’t. I’d been writing all day and this unexpected call threw me off. I wasn’t prepared for it and just started talking. A better strategy would have been to say I am in the middle of something let me call you back.
When asking for referrals I could have set it up better by asking for her assistance and saying something like I know she’d want to see me be successful with this new venture. She’s asked me for referrals over the years and I’ve been generous. Professionally speaking she would have understood the dynamic of give and take.
Perhaps most importantly notice how many people have given up on dreaming about their life. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve come in contact with who have given up on their hopes and dreams. This is a very sad fact for us individually, for our family and friends and for our country. Without dreams, which then turn into goals we cannot create the kind of life we want. Please keep dreaming and beware of vision vampires who, because they have no dreams of their own, want to suck the vitality of yours out as well.