Three years ago today, I was laid off from Shopify. Ever since, Star Wars Day has been an annual reminder of that difficult experience.
Legally speaking, I have no opinions about my former employer. But… getting laid off was a truly awful experience, and its timing in my life could barely have been worse. I can’t avoid the company, either: Shopify is a huge part of Canadian tech, I use a lot of Shopify open source software, and Shopify advertises on many of my favourite podcasts.
So it’s hard for me to have no opinion about Shopify. It’s a daily practice.
I’m not one of those people who has gratitude for the bad things that have happened to them. There’s still a piece of me that wishes it hadn’t happened. However, I am grateful for where I am now. And I wouldn’t be where I am (or who I am) without my experiences. Even the bad ones. Maybe even especially the bad ones. I’ve accepted what happened, and lately, my daily practice of not having opinions about Shopify has felt a little lighter.