Last week, my favorite Starbucks in Seattle shut down as part of layoffs at the company. I was bummed to hear. This isn't just any Starbucks — it was one of their Reserve locations, inside the Starbucks headquarters building, which made it even more shocking. Why shut down the Reserve location where all of your employees are?
Of course, nobody at Starbucks asked for my opinion on the matter, so here we are.
I was pretty disappointed, and yes, I realize that people lost their jobs, but this is not an article about layoffs and corporate decisions that affect people's lives.
This is an article about navigating change.
I spent countless hours at this Starbucks, using it as my own personal office some days. It was one of the few places you could grab a $10 cold brew. Excessive, I know, but it was whiskey barrel-aged. The wifi was great, the food was solid, the parking was simple, and it was something I could count on with consistency.
I was shocked to learn they shut this location down, as it was something I never saw coming. Sure, layoffs happen and locations consolidate, especially in Seattle, where we have a thousand or so Starbucks, but sometimes you're just surprised by a decision.
I shouldn't be surprised, though, as life is changing everywhere around us all the time, whether in our personal or professional lives. It's not about navigating the changes, it's rather about adapting and learning how to cope with them. Some change is hard, some change is expected, and some change will shock the absolute hell out of you and change the course of your journey.
Change, at its core, is disruptive. It interrupts what you thought was certain and forces you to rethink your rhythm.
The first step in dealing with it is acceptance. Not the kind of forced smile acceptance, but a clear recognition that the world has moved, and you can either spend your energy resisting or use that energy to adjust. The faster you get to that mindset, the faster you get back to moving forward.
Being nimble in the face of change requires loosening your grip on how you thought things should be. When you hold on too tightly to the way it was, you end up dragging dead weight. Flexibility is a competitive advantage. Those who can shift, adjust, and reimagine their plan without losing their drive are the ones who stay ahead while others stall out.
Surprise changes are the ones that really test you. They strip away your prepared responses and leave you with nothing but instinct and creativity. This is where you discover if you can adapt without the playbook in front of you. Careers are filled with these moments — a sudden reorg, a new boss, a vanished opportunity. If you can steady yourself and look for the path forward instead of obsessing over the detour, you build resilience that compounds over time.
The people who thrive through change are not the ones who avoid it, but the ones who treat it like raw material. They take what shows up, even if it is messy or unwanted, and figure out how to shape it into something useful. That mindset turns uncertainty into leverage. It allows you to see possibilities where others see only loss. It does not mean the change is easy. It means you refuse to let it bury you.
Ultimately, working through change is about staying in motion. You do not need to have all the answers when the shift happens. You only need the willingness to keep moving, to keep learning, and to keep searching for the opportunity that sits on the other side. The moment you freeze or give up is the moment change wins. The moment you adapt is the moment you prove to yourself that no matter what shifts around you, you are still capable of growth.
And for now, I'll go find another place to get coffee.