A New Beginning
On Career Transitions, layoffs, and starting this project
August, 2025
It happened, it was a typical Thursday summer morning when I received a dreadful email with the title “Important Information about your role”. I knew the purpose of this email; no need to even open it. My hands trembled, my husband entered the room with my daughter, and I told him that the layoff had happened, I got laid off. Rumors have been going around the office for the last month. The company is doing another round of layoffs, our organization might be affected. They will do it on Thursday, right after the conference, and so they did. Our company has been doing layoffs for the last 3 years in spite of exceeding expectations and achieving record profits. Corporate rumors like this became a part of the company’s culture.
My husband said, “How do you know? I got the email, I showed him my phone
He read the email, it will be ok, he said, grab your computer and save any personal things you will lose access at noon.
The next couple of hours were a blur, messaging people and checking who had been affected, trying to learn the scope and size of this layoff. Was it 50 people, was it 2,000 people? I later learned my whole team had been cut. I got a 15-minute calendar invite with my boss’s boss. HR was not on that call; in all my tenure at this company, I have barely seen or interacted with HR. They were an invisible team, you know they exist, but they are always lurking in the background, hiding behind a self-service app. The conversation was predictable and bland with no empathy. He mentioned it was purely a business decision my team was absorbed by a sister team, he encouraged me to look internally. Our company is not the kind to recommend or move you to other roles if layoffs occur you are the “owner and master of your career” . He gave some resources and that was it. My work computer stopped functioning at noon.
I went outside for a walk, needed some air, there’s a park near the apartment complex. I did some laps but needed to sit down and process the news. I found a bench and wept. I always find crying cathartic. I was letting emotions out not just from this round of layoffs but every layoff since 2022, the rumors, the anxiety and anticipation, saying goodbye to smart and wonderful colleagues, saying goodbye to the last 3 years, closing chapters.
I was also releasing the stress of being in the job itself, living through 3 restructurings, 5 managers in 3 years, always a change in scope and priorities, and a promise of moving up and being promoted, only for the bar to get higher each time. Every day, the amount of effort being put into aligning people with different goals for a project and delivering results. I’m not going to lie, the whole thing felt kind of dystopian at times. Like a matrix, an endless game of musical chairs where you’d better climb up before the music stops.
It was not all bad, this job was a step up from my previous role, I grew and learned a lot, met wonderful people along the way, I’m a better professional and I can aspire to better and bigger, it just sucks it ended this way without actually having a saying about it and the job market being what it is.
As much as I hate crying in public, I’m kind of used to it. I’ve cried in subways, planes, and now I can add neighborhood parks to my list. I looked up and saw 2 dragonflies fluttering in front of me. I’m a big believer in signs, and dragonflies hold a deep spiritual meaning. The dragonfly’s ability to emerge from water into air translates to a fresh start, a shedding of the old self, and the beginning of a new chapter. Fireflies are meant to bring messages of resilience, adaptability, facing challenges, and new beginnings. I knew this was the universe saying, Don’t worry, I’ve got your back, just like all the other times, you have always landed on your feet; this is not an exception.
I took this sign and returned home, this was indeed a new beginning, a blank slate I can finally have some time back for personal projects, my soul craved for creating, doing my own thing, writing, healing and doing more things not from ego but things that align to my authenticity a living a life that’s not meticulously curated but well lived, enjoyed and shared, that’s how this blog was born, this idea to share my writing with the world lived in my head for some time but only came to life due to these catalysts and this career transition.
So there you go, that’s the story. Thank you, big corporate role onwards and upwards .