My own career and life path have changed considerably and sometimes dramatically over the years. Mostly through choice. These changes have moved me in and out of what I now call the 'nobody-somebody cycle'. The "nobody syndrome" is part of that cycle.

We can become a nobody for many reasons. Going to a new school can turn you into a nobody. If you lose your job or retire you can soon feel like a nobody. If you get really ill this can do the same. If you get divorced, move to a new country, start a new job - all these things can put you into the nobody syndrome.

The "nobody syndrome" is very real. I can remember speaking to a woman who had just lost her job because of ill health and who was also going through a divorce. She had held a senior executive position in a large company. She now feels her world has literally fallen apart. She feels like a nobody.

Up till recently she had status, recognition, job fulfillment, and an extensive social life and security.

She is now experiencing the "nobody syndrome". This is usually brought about by a loss in status, recognition, influence and involvement. She feels side-lined, isolated, unwanted and unimportant. She feels invisible, a no body person. Her job and marriage up till recently had given her a "somebody" status. She had felt valued, worthwhile, appreciated and visible. Her sense of identity was bound up with her "somebody" status. That is not unusual. But now she is adjusting to her changed circumstances and is discovering a whole new sense of herself - and a less socially determined identity.

Sometimes for political or cultural reasons we can become "nobodies". Refugees and political prisoners certainly fit this category. Enemies, whoever they may be are reduced to nobodies. In some countries nationality, ethnicity, color, sex, religion can cause people to be treated as a nobody.

Being a nobody can be frightening and extremely demeaning especially when it means losing our fundamental human rights.

But in reality people are always "somebody".

The "nobody syndrome" period can become a time to recreate ourselves from a deeper sense of our own individuality and uniqueness where our identity is not tied to the whims and fancies of some sort of pseudo-celebrity status.

Quite often during this period we can make the discovery that yesterday's "somebody" was in fact a pale imitation of the deeper and richer person within us waiting to be expressed.