You are not your job: Writer Arthur Brooks on why careers shouldn't dictate your identity
Penny Wrenn has been grappling with an identity crisis.
After being laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, the 44-year-old from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, feels like “a walking dead person” without a job title to lay claim to.
Until recently, Wrenn took on the task of caretaker for her elderly father, a role she says she leaned into. But her dad died not long ago and she hasn’t yet found work, leaving her void of a personal identity, she says.
“My profession has determined my identity for more years than I can count,” the former journalist and content marketer says.
The pandemic has changed many aspects of how the world operates, including work.
Like for Wrenn, perhaps it prompted you to reflect on your career, such as how much of your identity — the
