We often view our lives as a straight line, starting at birth and ending at death with different life stages but anyone who loves literature knows that the best stories are never linear. When we find ourselves in a career break or a period of transition, it can sometimes feel like the plot has stalled. In reality, you are simply navigating the structural elements of your own story and there is always something bigger and better coming your way soon.
If you were to look at your life right now as a manuscript, here is how the elements of a story are helping you build a new life for yourself.
The Protagonist’s Inciting Incident
Every story goes through a change with an event that upsets the status quo. In a career context, this might be a resignation, a layoff, or the decision to focus on family.
In Literature: Think of Jane Eyre. Her inciting incident isn’t just leaving her teaching job at Lowood School; it is her desire for freedom; as she says, “I desired liberty; for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer; it seemed scattered on the wind then faintly blowing..”
The Lesson: Your break isn’t a gap, it’s the moment you, the protagonist of your story, decided that the old setting no longer fits your growth.
Beyond the Cube
In my previous chapter, my setting might have been balance sheets and account details. Now, the setting has shifted to the Multi-Hyphenate world of blogging, parenting, and advocacy.
In Literature: In The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein, Bilbo is happy and relaxed in his life. He follows his daily routine and is respected for that. He then decides to go out on an adventure that changes his life. He trades his predictable life for the wild where he discovers he is capable of being a hero.
The Lesson: A change in environment isn’t just aesthetic; it’s where the soul-work happens. As Bilbo famously says, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.” It’s dangerous because it changes you. A career break isn’t a loss of status; it’s an adventure in identity.
What Is This Chapter About?
Every great novel has a theme. Is your current chapter about resilience, essentialism, advocacy or your mental health?
In Literature: In Middlemarch by George Eliot, the theme is often the unhistoric acts of everyday life, how small choices create a meaningful existence.
The Lesson: When you take a career break, you aren’t just between jobs. You are exploring a new theme. Maybe this chapter’s theme is Renaissance.
Remember, you are the author of your story. The most empowering part of a story is that the protagonist eventually gains agency. In the early chapters, things happen to them. In the later chapters, they make things happen. As you navigate this chapter of your life, remember that you aren’t just a small character governed by corporate demands and societal pressures. You are the one holding the pen. You are your own protagonist.
What does the next page look like for you? Is there a fictional character whose journey you relate to?
This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.
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