Abstract
Objective: To examine micro and macro influences on transitions from paid work to volunteerism.
Participants: Narrative life stories from the people of Chile after a natural disaster.
Method: Personal reflection on lived experiences in work transitions and theoretical concepts in occupational transitions.
Result: Tensions at the micro and macro levels influence transitions and decisions to make significant transitions in work.
Conclusions: Unexpected and unanticipated work transitions open the door to personal reflection and in this case an individual's sense of perceived inaction on the institutional level directed action on the individual level. Thus, confirming suggestion that a dialectical relationship of mutual influence exists between micro and macro level occupational transitions when unanticipated major life and work transitions transpire.