“Growing” is born in a time of crisis.
In January 2018 I was fired due to staff restructuring. No anesthesia, no hard feelings.
I was working in the HR area for a financial company, so, I was comfortable, with a pretty good salary, from office were I had the most incredible capital’s city view and above all, i was calm: my position wasn’t at risk.
I decided to start the year with a few days off, but when I returned I had this strange feeling: the atmosphere felt different. I thought it was a time of work on self-motivation so i started organizing the day activities. In the middle of the morning, the informal communication channels proved once again to be faster and efficient to spread news that nobody wants to hear: company leaders were separating personnel from various sectors and positions, and literally, the top managers were approaching our office. I remember the tense air, again: No anesthesia.
I texted my family saying something like: “They are firing people, I don’t know what’s gonna’ happen.” An unconditional attitude replied back: “Don’t worry, we’ll figured this out.”
In the office nobody moved, computers screens were off. Suddenly, they came for me telling something like: – “Audrey, could you come to the office for a little while.” Manager and bosses, were dismissing us with a great speech. There were many things at stake I think, the labor bond and the higher orders. I never imagined signing a paper whose wording related my dismissal acceptance. But that was what happened.
I was out of the office by midday, with my purse on one side, my working materials and lunch on the other side. I forgot my house keys in the office, so I had to go back to the company, funny huh?. Nice Sigmund’s Freud Lapsus.
Back home, I showed my family the dismissal documents. We talked, I told them what had happened and they told me that now there was only a looking forward chance; sarcastically, they also told me that a dismissal in the middle of Uruguayan January was the best thing that could happen to me.
January 8, was a shocking day, no matter how cliché it sounds. Tuesday and Wednesday were sad days, a lot of anguish, pessimistic thoughts and a bagged ego … yes, the job layoff was a direct kick to my ego. On Thursday, I woke up thinking that I had to do something with life, with my job, with whatever … I couldn’t continue regretting in my house.
I started running. Practicing sports is an activity that has helped me organize my ideas and deal with my energy, so, from then on I began to organize my personal and professional situation, as well as my finances, commitments and activities, in order to finally get the ideas Pessimistic of my head and think backwards: What to do? What can i do? Where is everything I have studied and learned?
I literally sat down with a notebook on my desk to write answers to those three questions until I could discuss with myself and for the first time think and write about a question that I’d never asked myself before: What do I really want to do?
My ideas began to pop up around Life Coaching and Career Guidance, they just emerged. The project that would be called “Growing” came to life three months later.
At the same time, I participated in an Outplacement Process: an accompaniment in labor discharge with Lorena, who helped me think my role as a freelancer and strengthen my skills to shape this venture that i had between my hands.
“Growing” you were born this way… shyly after a moment of crisis. Breaking down my prejudices and emotionally giving up to company policies where I no longer work are the biggest challenges i have. Courage and taking risks in small actions with the necessary repairs of each case, had been and are for me one of the biggest challenges that Growing gave me, to verify that for the first time in my life I’m working on something that I’m passionate about: coaching. I stand for the idea and I’m sure that people need someone to guide us at least once in our lives, to show us north so that we can continue alone on our own, and from “Growing” is what I’m trying to do.
So i can say, that orientation brings me joy. In a way, it’s an indirect thanks to a lot of people who guided me on my path of personal and professional growth and today is what I seek to give back to those who approach this small-big project.
Image Source: Nader Ebrahim – Big Data Science: Expectations vs. Reality