Deconstruction.

//deconstruction// systemically taking apart a building, carefully removing reusable materials with the primary goal of repurposing them to salvage valuable components for reuse rather than completely demolishing it. 

Roughly a year ago today, I woke up, rolled over and checked my work email as I typically would do before getting out of bed, and I saw what I thought was coming. It was a note from the CEO saying that everyone in the company would receive one of three emails today - one saying that nothing was changing for you, one saying that you had a new manager, or one saying that today would be your last day with the company. I, along with 1,649 other employees, received the latter. 

By 9:30am, I had already attended a Google Meet where our layoff was conducted en masse by our Chief People Officer and by 10:00am, my laptop had been wiped clean. I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. 

The rest of that day is a bit of a blur for me. I oddly have a few pictures that I don’t remember taking at all. Apparently my kids had a snow day because I have videos of them making snow angels. I was scouting a blazer to purchase from Farm Rio. And I also apparently made brownies from Trader Joe’s that evening. (Don’t sleep on boxed brownies.)

If I’m being truly honest with myself, the next couple of months were also a blur. I knew the motions for how to get back up, dust myself off, and get back at it. But I just couldn’t give all of myself to it. I spoke to companies. Went after the jobs that on paper I should be going after. But for one reason or another, they just weren’t working out. 

One day out of the blue, I received a text from someone who I hadn’t heard from in nearly a year. Up until that time, I had really just been doing design work on the side for friends and family. He saw my work in someone’s home, was impressed, but hadn’t really moved forward with working with me. This time, he said that he was ready. So ready in fact that he had already sold all of his living room furniture and now had just a card table and a folding chair. 

Bet. Challenge accepted. 

That experience jolted my creative senses. 

And then another opportunity came. And then another one. Like manna from heaven, they just continued to come. Not all at once. But in slow drips. A dresser for her. A rug for him. A piece of artwork for this one. Paint colors for them. And they came from the people whom I didn’t expect. Someone on the other side of a divorce, looking to start her life anew and settle more intentionally into her joy. A man who bought his first home in a new city, just to be closer to his boys. A woman who needed an office space to work on building the business that would hopefully transport her out of Corporate America. 

And it reminded me of the power that I had within me to do something purposeful with my life. 

When I lost my job, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I saw the pieces of the professional life that I had built in shambles, and didn’t know what to do. As I started to work with more and more people, I realized that I actually did have a choice. I could work to rebuild this life, as is, and keep climbing that ladder to a destination that I no longer was passionate about. Or I could salvage some of those pieces and start building something completely new. Sure there might be a few holes in the wood from where the old nails used to be, but that’s what wood filler and stain are for. 

If you’ve worked with me already, thank you. You’ve been part of my rebuilding process. If you haven’t worked with me, and you’re looking to rebuild as well, I’m ready to help you too. Let’s take this thing down to the studs.