Most Americans construct their identity around work. Not their hobbies, not their family, not their friends – but mind numbing drudgery. At the end of the film “Up in The Air” the director cuts to real video of people weeping after they have been fired. They are lost, broken, it’s as if the Devil stole their soul.
Of all the problems to have, losing your job is one of the most easily remedied. It isn’t cancer, the loss of a loved one, a divorce, or a tragic accident. It’s not pleasant, but if you want to work you can find work, especially now when businesses are desperate.
But it’s not the loss of income that upsets people, it’s the loss of identity. Because Americans devote their lives to work, they have nothing to fall back on if they lose their job. It’s both pathetic and tragic, and how corporations keep their work force in line.
So stop. Stop viewing your job as a core part of your identity, it isn’t. What you do for a living is not who you are, anymore than a uniform. An individual does not need work to define them, and neither do you.