Turbulent Times

I was scrolling the pages on LinkedIn and saw the following that I copies and pasted below:

Firms that have announced layoffs since the beginning of August include:

• Ford confirmed that it is cutting 3,000 salaried and contract workers in the U.S., Canada and India.

• Boston-based Wayfair is cutting 870 jobs worldwide as customers shift their spending away from home goods.

• Crypto lender Genesis announced its laying off 20% of its workforce amid ongoing turbulence in the cryptocurrency market.

• Apple has laid off about 100 contract-based recruiters as it seeks to slow hiring and spending, reports Bloomberg.

• HBO and HBO Max laid off 14% of their staff, or 70 employees, following the merger of parent company WarnerMedia and Discovery.

• SoulCycle has shuttered a quarter of its cycling studios and cut 75 employees.

• Signify Health, a Dallas-based home health services company, is laying off almost 500 workers in four states.

• Peloton Interactive cut nearly 800 employees and announced store closures and price increases.

• Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, is laying off dozens of journalists across at least 20 newsrooms.

• Citing an "ever-changing macroeconomic environment," Best Buy has cut hundreds of store-based jobs, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• Malwarebytes employees are posting on LinkedIn about layoffs at the Bay Area-based cybersecurity firm. Layoffstracker.com reports 125 people were affected by the cuts.

• Meditation app Calm is laying off 20% of its staff, according to an internal memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

• Warby Parker, an online retailer of prescription glasses, is laying off 63 corporate employees, 2% of its overall workforce and 15% of its corporate staff.

• Video game developer Jam City, which has offices across the U.S. and Canada, is laying off about 200 employees.

• LinkedIn members shared about staffing cuts made at other companies: real estate tech platform Doma, which also laid off staff in May; cannabis tech Weedmaps; childcare management app brightwheel; analytics software platform Sisu, and payments processor Fiserv.

• Walmart is laying off as many as 200 corporate employees in areas such as merchandising and real estate.

• Online brokerage Robinhood laid off 23% of its staff in its second round of cuts this year.

• Global software giant Oracle is laying off an unspecified number of employees in its U.S. customer experience unit.

July's more high-profile companies making cuts include:

• 7-Eleven laid off about 880 corporate employees after its $21 billion acquisition of Speedway.

• Ford is cutting up to 8,000 jobs, mostly in its gas-fueled vehicle division, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.

• Crypto giant OpenSea cut 20% of staff.

• Victoria's Secret laid off about 160 managers as part of a restructuring.

• Electric carmaker Rivian said it was cutting "hundreds" after conceding it "grew too fast."

• Twitter laid off about one-third of its talent acquisition team.

I sat there and my only thought was, "Wow, we are living in some very turbulent times." I read some of the comments that people who just recevied a scripted e-mail stating they had lost their jobs. My next thought was, "More losses to grieve for these hard-working, dedicated people." You see, they not only lost their jobs, but they lost their work family, customer base they worked hard to build trust and rapport, their purpose in life, and for many, their identity.

Some people are on the fence that America is in a reccession, others are convinced we are already in one. Soaring prices in housing, food, clothing, utilities, and vehicles are just a drop in the bucket. Now add on the increase of child care, elderly care, and the basics of personal medical care and many are deeply in debt. The losses just keep coming at us all to the point that we may feel like a sailboat caught up in a severe storm, praying we can navigate our sails to avoid capsizing.

I am not writing to place any blame or be political about what has caused us all to find ourselves unemployed. We are all trying to navigate our way through a pile of bills, while paying for the basic neccessities in life - it's pointless to play a blame game at this point. We are all in the same storm, and we need one another to survive these treacherous waters to safely navigate our way to safety, security, and abundance.

I have noticed that many are large corporations, who most likely needs to restructure and refocus after bad management and sadly, the employees are part of the collateral damage. Many of us have been through the downsizing efforts, layoffs, and basically job eliminations. They hurt and instill fear, anxiety and depression after a while. I have also been noticing a strong comeback in the family owned businesses, and people are starting to go back to the basics and principles after seeing how large corporations bought up many of the family owned businesses. I watched child care centers, funeral homes, both of which I was part of the buyout. I sat on the sidelines as government got involved with our private health care sectors, and corporations began to buy up hospitals that were founded by a Board of Directors, mainly doctors, who held their own practice within the facility.

We have sold ourselves out to corporate giants and we need to think of the possibilities of taking back our territory. We all hold gifts and personally, I have taken a long hard look at my own abilities. I have exceptional customer service skills, adminstrative skills, accounting, telephone skills, and I am an exceptional skilled listener. Once I took the time to assess all the gifts that I have, I thought to myself, 'Look at all the years I worked and helped corporations profit for low pay.' I stopped being the victim of my own making and began a journey that most people tried to discourage me from doing.

The storm of my own making was beginning to break now. I see a grieving world and I have the skills, knowledge and testimonies to show I am good at what I do for myself. Helping hurting people begin to navigate through the storms of life is something I am passionate about, and I take great pride in their ability to do the work, heal the wounds and rebuild a life they are meant to live. I get to witness the clouds of darkness begin to lift and winds of anxiety and depression lose their grip. I see the captives being set free. Who could ask for more?

I want to challenge you, if you've been part of the recent layoffs, downsizing or elimination process, to simply pause, check the wind direction, and adjust your sails. Look for that silver lining - every storm has one. I want you to live your best life and discover what is working for you, and more importantly, what is not. I have to hand to the millenial generation, they want a balance in their work and family life, as it should be. Many have taken a stand they are calling Quiet Quitting and not taking on the jobs of two people after a lay off. I applaud you! As a Boomer, I recall the guilt I carried for not being there for my own children. I hated it, but times were different then, and I cannot change the past. We can take charge of a better future.

So take a deep look at your current skills - What would you do full time that you are so passionate about, you'd do it for free? See yourself doing that - It's your calling and your purpose. Go for it!

From my heart, to yours,

Kim