John Dewey(1916) wrote that “we grow as we choose the projects by which we create our identities.”
What projects do you consider when there is an interruption to the ordinary flow of things? When the normal routine habits are disabled? When you confront novelty, new ideas or something unexpected?
I am interested in this idea that we are active agents, choosing the projects that characterise and define our life, shape and determine our identities.
We are all in the process of being, becoming the person that we identified as ‘me’. The woman, man, parent, teacher, writer, builder, lover, fighter, preacher and more. The narrative of our life is in constant edit, the framework is there, the main ideas are evolving and connections are being made. We are continually making space to understand who we are in relation to who other people are. Knowing helps us to become. Choosing the projects shape our identity.