HBR Women at Work Boxed Set (6 Books)

19

When a Major Life Change Upends Your Sense of Self

by Madeline Toubiana, Trish Ruebottom, and Luciana Turchick Hakak

Human beings have a complicated relationship with change. While it is both inevitable and essential for growth, change can also be deeply uncomfortable—especially if it feels involuntary or out of our control.

As researchers focused on social change, our group has spent the last 10 years studying how people react to drastic changes in their lives. We’ve conducted hundreds of interviews with people who lost a desired identity, such as former white-collar professionals forced to move into lower-status careers, and people trying to shed an undesirable or stigmatized identity, such as former prisoners working to reintegrate themselves ...