Becoming

IMAGE: A New Day by Emily Cain, Outerbanks, NC, USA, August 2021

The beginning of this story starts with life transitions, some typical, all shared experiences. The words of American poet Carl Sandburg lingers in my mind,

“Who am I?”

Imagine being mid-life. You are experiencing a global pandemic. The youngest of your children graduating college. You’ve just experienced the loss of your mother, and you have been recently unemployed due to a “reduction in force.” You wonder, “How did I get here?” “What do I do next and how do I get there?” “Who am I?”

Those questions propelled me into a graduate program for instructional design and educational technology. I began to learn about learning and to reflect on my learning. I became part of a community and witnessed how others’ reflections differed from my own. Somewhere in all of this, I found myself on a journey to self-discovery and a new understanding about learning and life, in general.

In the process of life transition and growth, we, as people, continue to grapple with our own meanings and understanding. In the mix of a formal educational experience, I am constantly facing my initial questions, “Who am I? “Where have I been?” “Where am I going?” Over time, a new understanding emerges:

We are in a constant state of becoming.

With each experience, we explore what it means to be who we are at that particular moment in time. Over the course of our lifetime, we will be in a continuous state of self-discovery and growth along a trajectory.

For me, it means I am in a constant state of becoming me. I am never completely defined. Therefore, I am always growing and changing. 

There is comfort and excitement in the constant state of becoming. It means you should ask questions, take some risks, explore more, learn something new, discover new places, and more. It means that, while you are alive, you can never truly be finished. Every day is an opportunity for greater self-understanding and becoming.