How Paul Got Back

Anyone who’s ever abruptly found themselves out of a job knows how devastating it is for the soul. Yes, there are more immediate and baser concerns—How will I pay my mortgage? What will I tell my family and friends? How many pens should I pinch on my way out of the office?—but for the first few days, weeks, or even months afterward, the loss feels deeply personal. For as much as we might tell ourselves our identity is separate from our 9-to-5, the truth is what we do makes up a part of who we are. When you are suddenly no longer doing it, you are faced with a more existential question: Who am I?