Or we get demoted, or even laid off. It is a frightening thing to be unemployed when your identity is your job. Women face a similar midlife identity crisis. And a society that taught young women to define themselves by physical beauty has nothing to offer the aging female psyche. Reinventing yourself Midlifers need permission to reinvent themselves.
New times require new identities.
Besides, some of the old ones were not good for us anyway. She saw to it that all her family members got what they wanted, including an alcoholic father who verbally abused her. As an adult Jean tries her best to please her husband and two teen-age sons. Jean never takes time to please herself. Her potentialities lay undiscovered.