What is fear? Fear is false evidence appearing real. Due to COVID-19 -19, a lot of companies cut employees' salaries, reduced work hours, furloughed, or laid off their employees. I was impacted. My company first decided to cut employees' salaries by 10, 20, or 30%, depending on their level in the company. My salary was cut by 10%. I was upset, but at least I still had a job. Then they came back and said they would have to furlough some employees for 90 days. I was one of those employees who was told on a phone call, with many others, that we were being furloughed. Fear set in. I was worried, upset, and angry that they had furloughed me. I felt ashamed. What was I going to do? I had to stop, think for a minute, and breathe. Yes, my company was furloughing me, but they were also going to file unemployment for me, kick in at least 600 dollars bi-monthly on top of my weekly unemployment benefits, and the government was providing an extra $600 a week to add on to the state's benefits.
Great! I'm good! During this furlough time, I was able to complete a writing course; take a few courses the company offered on-line through LinkedIn Learning; attend a character development course for acting through Zoom; and work on my blog. I was moving along. Then I received an invite to attend a call from the company addressed to current employees and those on furlough.
It was not a good call. They were informing all employees they would have to lay off 10% of the workforce permanently and everyone would be notified about their status the following week. If your role was impacted, you would receive an invite from your line manager along with HR to attend a meeting/call, but everyone will be notified. Please accept the meeting/call you were invited to attend.
I hung up from that call feeling extremely stressed. My mind went into overdrive. I automatically assumed that I would be one of the ones laid off.
On the day of notification, I received an email to attend a call with the SVP. Okay. I felt confident I wasn't being laid off because my line manager hadn't requested a meeting with HR and me. But then, I received a text from my line manager asking me if I would be on the call. Please confirm. Fear and panic set in again, and my emotions boiled over. I texted him back and asked, "Am I being laid off"? If I were, then I didn't need to be on a call with others to be informed that I was being laid off or I didn't want to be on a call for them to thank me for my service. He immediately called me back and said this was not that type of call. He believed it was good news because he and other team members would also be on the call.
I joined the call. My role was not impacted and I would be called back from furlough.
Do Not Allow FEAR to stop you from facing difficult situations or following your dreams.
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