HEADCANON #1
When it comes to SONIA and her SELF-ESTEEM, she has absolutely no confidence in herself as a person. It never helps when she has a Grandmother who is a successful professor and practically hounds at her personal life, noticing SONIA doesn’t do anything with ‘purpose’. It sincerely hit hard with how encountering HOPS and the protagonist about the reason why she’s out and about. SONIA explains about her Grandmother comparing the young trainers (ie. HOPS and the protagonist) are out setting on their Pokemon journey to take the GYM CHALLENGE and then asks her granddaughter “What are you doing with your life?”.
It truthfully crushed her self-esteem even more than it already because she has a tendency to view the successes of others close to her. SONIA wouldn’t call this sentiment envy over their own successful lives but she has a bad habit to compare herself to them. For example; NESSA, a close friend of hers, ended up not only being a GYM LEADER but even has a successful career as a MODEL. LEON, a childhood friend, is pretty much GALAR’S celebrity as CHAMPION. RAIHAN, a friend she met during the GYM CHALLENGE she did at a young age, also ended up being a GYM LEADER.
She’ll never bare any ill-will but every time SONIA reminds herself of how she hadn’t done anything except being an ASSISTANT to the professor, her Grandmother who doesn’t even see her as useful until she goes to discover the secrets of GALAR’S past. It almost brings her down to the point of not being proud of how her life is going. Despite later becoming a PROFESSOR, she doesn’t feel competent due to being betrayed by her own ASSISTANT. Practically adding salt to the wound, SONIA’S journey isn’t completed even as a PROFESSOR. She rather continue exploring GALAR and discover what she truly wants to do by the end of Sword and Shield.
