“I can’t take it anymore, I want to change my life.” A phrase that we have heard repeated many times in recent years. And which encompasses the dissatisfaction with a world of work in which many have stopped reflecting themselves. Words in which the bud of a phenomenon that was catalyzed by the pandemic was hidden: the search for a Plan B of existence. Which starts, in fact, from a job change but which turns into a total upheaval of life. A revolution.
On the pages of the online Repubblica we reported with the column (titled precisely Piano B) stories of people who have decided to take the big leap. Women and men. Workers, employees and managers. Of all ages and from very different places. Like Valentina, who abandoned her career as a manager to become a primary school teacher. Or Elio, who gave up marketing to dedicate himself to ceramics, Maurizio, who left his job as an employee in a multinational to open a bakery, or Francesca who said goodbye to her permanent job to reinvent herself as a professional organizer.
Stories of normal lives, however made extraordinary by an act of explosive courage. Which pushed us to delve deeper and discover how, where and why people decide to give up everything. A book was born, Plan B. Changing your life is possiblenow on newsstands with Repubblica and in bookstores with Sonzogno, which explains, precisely, what is behind this phenomenon resulting from the Great Resignations (mass layoffs after the pandemic) and what the causes and consequences are. But it also reveals, concretely, how a safe life change can be achieved, analyzing the mistakes to avoid, the rules to follow and the sacrifices to face.
All this through the common thread of the stories of those who made it, of those who succeeded in setting up an alternative. Which starts from a more creative and fulfilling profession and which leaves more time to enjoy people and things that – Covid has taught us – we feared losing. In a job market which, for some categories, has totally changed, and in which many feel exploited, underpaid and unappreciated. A world that has led them to identify less with their profession. Because leaving your old job for a job you really like, taking care of something to which you attribute a profound meaning, at the pace you consider right, means finally feeling satisfied and, often, having more time. It therefore means also change your relationship with the people you care about and dedicate yourself to activities for which you previously couldn’t find a free moment. In summary: it means to live better.
Plan B, the story of Michele Bonelli: “I left Milan and went to live in a cabin at 1300 meters. And I opened the tallest independent bookshop in Italy”
by Valeria Teodonio
Sometimes the change of occupation can also translate into a geographical change, because the new path can lead to a transfer, given that more and more often work can be organized, completely or partially, remotely. And this opens up the possibility of choosing between the urban dimension – the city with its opportunities, its costs and its limits – and the return to nature or to the small community, perhaps discovering themselves happier also or precisely because the social context changes.
The objection is always the same: it is a luxury for the few. Only those who can afford a large initial investment, people who have substantial economic resources and well-covered shoulders that eliminate the risk of finding themselves without income, are in a position to pursue and achieve it – it is said. For everyone else, Plan B remains a mirage.
Plan B, the story of Elena Frosi: “After 20 years I left my permanent job: now I travel the world for work”
by Valeria Teodonio
In reality this is not the case. Of course, you have to plan it well, it’s not an easy path and it’s not immediate. But it is often not necessary to be wealthy. Many of the stories we have collected tell it, and even the experts say it. Yes, because they were also born new professional figures, experts who help to set up an alternative profession that is closer to one’s needs, who teach how to undertake a new path and offer the tools to realize the new job, but also to invent it from scratch. In fact, there are also those who, despite being aware that Plan A, for some reason, didn’t work and despite wanting to implement a life change with all their strength, don’t have the faintest idea of how and what to do. Therefore an all-round analysis, which crosses the opinions of sociologists, psychologists and experts in the sector, with the data and stories of the protagonists. And in the end, an exceptional Plan B: that of Maurizio de Giovanni.
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– 2024-05-11 00:47:09
