Handle With Care

Welcome to 2023 - this year sure is off to a wild start! The winter storms have definitely been a reminder of our climate crying. Shopify has eliminated nearly 76,500+ hours of internal meetings. Over 30,000 people in tech have lost their job in the first 6 days of the year, equating to higher job loss than all of December. My inbox has been flooded with workbooks, how-to’s and month long programs on Goal Setting. (Funny enough, yesterday I saw a podcast about goal-quitting and we are only 9 days in!) We are also hearing more rumblings about the impact of AI and ChatGPT in the workplace.

It leaves me pondering: Is this making us more or less connected? Are we creating brave humans or bold robots? And who really cares? Take a moment to listen to what you’re hearing, watching and seeing in the world. What questions does this awareness bring up for you? 

You see, I started the year taking Bernie on his first flight. As I walked onto the plane, I saw a trolly pulling a pile of “priority” luggage across the tarmac. It was stacked high of hockey bags, lacrosse sticks, skis and… Bernie’s crate. I cried. I saw his little head peering out and could only imagine how he was feeling at the bottom of the pile. As I boarded the plane, I said a prayer to the tired, over-worked Air Canada employee: please handle Bernie with care. 

Handle with care tips: 

1. Mindfulness - slow down. Be intentional with everything you touch, with the words you speak and the actions you take. 

2. Treat everything you do as if it’s a gift for your most loved one. Because it is. 

3. Ask for help. It is easier to lift the heavy items and the heavy moments in life with an extra set of hands and one more heartbeat. 

4. Be kind. To yourself and to others. Assume everyone is doing the very best that they can in that moment. Did you know that: kindness is a currency that can always be exchanged for more kindness!

And as I sat down to write to you, I thought the very same thing: may we all handle this new year with care. May we set goals that get us out of bed in the morning and may our work represent our desire to make a difference. May we acknowledge the changing of technological times, yet always hold so dear that nothing can replace a human who cares. 

With wildly beating hearts,

Steph + Team Corker