Storying the Self: How Stories Shape Our Identity

Specialization Overview

This course, STORYING THE SELF: HOW STORIES SHAPE OUR IDENTITY is a part of the University of Colorado specialization, STORYING THE SELF FOR LEADERSHIP AND CREATIVITY as offered on the Coursera platform. The specialization description for the course, as led by Linds Roberts, is as follows:

“If you're moving into a leadership position, interested in thinking deeply about identity, or exploring the role of creativity in your life, this specialization is for you! Stories are powerful catalysts for social change that can contribute to greater equity and inclusion across a range of diverse human experiences and identities. Stories can limit or define us, and they can also be reconstructed, questioned, tinkered with, and used to reconsider or expand possibilities for your life and communities. You will have an opportunity to craft the narratives of your own life experiences in ways that help you better understand your public and private identities. The courses in this specialization feature diverse media that share stories spanning nationality, race, gender, sexuality, social class, and time. You will practice giving and receiving constructive feedback as we explore creating through audio, video, social media, and more traditional forms of writing.”

I started it in August 2025 as a means of working through a creative rut I have been in regarding my battle with major persistent depression. This online journal will serve as a repository for my notes, written reflections, and creative projects completed for the courses in the specialization.

Week 01 Learning Objectives

Consider how views of the 'self' are shaped by culture and family.
Explore creative storytelling practices and idea generation as leaders and creators.
Create a list of 'Headlines' of stories you might wish to develop.

1.2. Reasons for Exploring Stories of Self

Kate Christen writes,

“Novel writing can be a way of couching, reinventing, transcending--and hiding. Writing personal essays and memoir is a way of revealing myself without that veil. I want to connect. I want to be known…Writing straight into the truth feels like the only thing I want to do now…” (p. 18).

We could add additional reasons to these, such as exploring stories of ourselves as a way of being self-reflexive, understanding ourselves and our blind spots and our impacts. We might also want to reclaim power, to resist or subvert stories others have placed on us, to let go.

In a paragraph or list form, what are your reasons for exploring stories of yourself?

I recently watched writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait’s 2009 dramedy WORLDS’S GREATEST DAD starring Robin Williams which ties into part of the Kate Christen quote that was shared with us, “I want to connect. I want to be known.” Williams portrays a middle aged writer and a private school English teacher whose troubled son wanders through life with little ambition: mildly adventurous, often angry, and with an addictive personality that is always looking for a new way to get high. Williams’s own ambitious have often gone unfulfilled as he opens the film highlighting how he’s never been published and desires his fifteen minutes of fame by finding fortune through just one published work that takes off. Success from his passion eludes him, and he feels as though his life is missing meaning because of it. He feels jealousy when his cohorts are published, and he feels frustration with his son who pushes back and argues with him at every turn.

ARTIFACT 01 > Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers. “World’s Greatest Dad (2009) Official Trailer #1 - Robin Williams Movie HD.” YouTube, 03 Dec 2013.

ARTIFACT 02 > Lee, Steven. “Sad.” Digital Self-Portrait. 26 Jun 2025.

As I watched World’s Greatest Dad, I found myself empathizing with Williams’s character in terms of how he felt creatively unseen. My monkey mind often fills my head with negative persistent thoughts, as though there is little about myself that is interesting enough to share with the world. And when I do share it feels as though no one notices what I’ve created, photographed, or written. While it’s not the healthiest metric, my social media posts get little interaction today. Another blow to my self esteem recently lay in the rejection of artwork I submitted to juried group shows in 2025. And it feels like every day I see peers complete their university studies and move on in life while I sit stuck in the muck.

To this end, Lane Moore, in her book HOW TO BE ALONE: IF YOU WANT TO, AND EVEN IF YOU DON’T resonated when she said:

“At this point in my life, I often fear it’s too late, as if there were a sign-up deadline for intimacy and friends and family and I just kept missing it. And it’s not that I want to, but it’s so easy to get wrapped up in “But this is the normal time to have xyz thing. I do not have xyz thing yet. So it is too late for xyz thing.” Even though my rational brain thinks that’s garbage nonsense” (Moore 9).

Like Moore, I often fear that I have reached an age where if’s too late, that I’ve missed the train as it moved onto the next part of my life I was supposed to journey towards and visit.

Roman Gelperin, in his book AND IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT: UNRAVELING THE INNER PSYCHOLOGY OF DEPRESSION described:

“The renowned 19th century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy suffered from this kind of depression, which struck him at age forty-nine, when—as he described it—“I had a good wife who loved me and whom I loved, good children, and a large estate . . . , was respected by my relations and acquaintances . . . , and without much self-deception could consider that my name was famous,” when he suddenly found that “there were no wishes the fulfillment of which” he desired. In order to further build his estate, or educate his children, or write a book, he said, “I had to know why I was doing it.” And without knowing why, “I could do nothing and could not live.” …He became swamped by a total anhedonia, an inability to act, and desires for suicide, but no self-revulsion. He finally concluded “that life was meaningless,” a question he would grapple with, depressively, to the end of his life” (Gelperin 193).

I certainly don’t have the fame Tolstoy had, but can identify with the struggle of examining one’s life to take stock of what one has and has not achieved while experiencing a malaise about it all.

Which brings me back to answering the central question for this post: ultimately, I’m interested in exploring stories of myself as a way of getting unstuck from the depressive rut I’ve been in by rediscovering and reconnecting with who I am as well as finding a sustainable joy in what I do. I want to explore stories of myself to learn more about myself, my family, as well as my close friends. Finally, I want to be known, and feel that my emotions, experiences, and identity matter.

WORKS CITED

Gelperin, Roman. “And it Was All Your Fault: Unraveling the Inner Psychology of Depression.” 2019.
Goldthwait, Bobcat. “World’s Greatest Dad.” Magnolia Pictures, 2009.
Moore, Lane. “How to Be Alone: If You Want To: And Even If You Don’t.” Simon & Schuster, 2018.

2.3. Glossary of Identity Terms

The following notes are from the course website…

Personal Identity

Social identity is different from personal identity because of the emphasis on the individual rather than a collective group. Personal identity is what differentiates us from others within a social identity group, whereas social identity is how we categorize both ourselves and others. Things like my Myers-Briggs type, astrological sign, career choice, hobbies, extroversion, and position within my family are all very important ways I have of understanding myself as well as differentiating myself from others within my social identity groups, and we would likely think of these as personal identities.

Definition from: University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Lesson 1: Social Identity: Reflecting on Social Justice Foundational Concepts. University of Wisconsin.

“…personal identities include the components of self that are primarily intrapersonal and connected to our life experiences. For example, you may be outgoing, love puzzles, hip-hop music or have a beautiful singing voice.” Definition from: Worthy, L.D., Lavigne, T. and Romero, F. (2020). “Multicultural Identities.” In Culture and Psychology. Glendale Community College, Maricopa Community Colleges.

Social Identity

Social identity groups are usually defined by some physical, social, and mental characteristics of individuals. Examples of social identities are race/ethnicity, gender, social class/socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, (dis)abilities, and religion/religious beliefs.

Definition from: Searle Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning. Social Identities. Northwestern University.

Social identities can be defined as groups that are based on the physical, social, and mental characteristics of individuals. They are sometimes obvious and clear– sometimes not–often self-claimed, and frequently ascribed by others. In other words, our social identity groups may sometimes be visible and obvious to others, and it may sometimes be less obvious or visible to others. They are also something that we create together as a society. Definition from: University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Lesson 1: Social Identity: Reflecting on Social Justice Foundational Concepts. University of Wisconsin.
Involves the ways in which one characterizes oneself, the affinities one has with other people, the ways one has learned to behave in stereotyped social settings, the things one values in oneself and in the world, and the norms that one recognizes or accepts governing everyday behavior. Definition from: Center for Diversity & Inclusion. Glossary of Bias Terms. Washington University in St. Louis.

Social Group

People sharing a social relation sometimes based on demographic or cultural similarity.

Definition from: Equal Opportunities for Children and Families (EOCF). Terms & Definitions.

Dominant and Subordinate Identities

“People are commonly defined as other on the basis of race or ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, and physical or mental ability. Each of these categories has a form of oppression associated with it: racism, sexism, religious oppression/anti-Semitism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and ableism, respectively. In ease case, there is a group considered dominant (systemically advantaged by the society because of group membership) and a group considered subordinate or targeted (systematically disadvantaged). When we think about our multiple identities, most of us will find that we are both dominant and targeted at the same time. But it is the targeted identities that hold our attention and the dominant identities that often go unexamined.”

Definition from: Tatum, B. D. (2000). The Complexity of Identity:“Who Am I?” In Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W.J., Hackman, H.W., Zúñiga, X., & Peters, M.L. (Eds), Readings for diversity and social justice: An anthology on racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism (p. 9-14). New York: Routledge.

Power

Power is a relational term. It can only be understood as a relationship between human beings in a specific historical, economic and social setting. It must be exercised to be visible.

Power is control of, or access to, those institutions sanctioned by the state. (Definition by Barbara Major of People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, New Orleans)
Power is the ability to define reality and to convince other people that it is their definition. (Definition by Dr. Wade Nobles)
Power is ownership and control of the major resources of a state; and the capacity to make and enforce decisions based on this ownership and control; and (Alternative definition to #1)
Power is the capacity of a group of people to decide what they want and to act in an organized way to get it.
Power (in terms of an individual), power is the capacity to act.

Definition from: Colors of Resistance. Definitions for the Revolution.

Silencing

Situations in which people from dominant social groupings dominate discussions or dominate space.

Definition from Caitlyn Hewitt-White via Colors of Resistance. Definitions for the Revolution.

3.2. Sources of Inspiration

What activities do you find yourself engaging in when new ideas come to you?

On the days I do my morning pages journaling (a creative process to help purge one’s monkey mind every morning, as advocated for by author and educator Julia Cameron), I find that my mind circles around to brainstorming creative possibilities for expressing ideas and issues I’ve been interested in. It’s been awhile since I’ve done this though, as my room has become so unorganized that I’m unable to work at my desk.

Other times, I’ll be free writing in a journal or in the notes application on my smart phone while sitting in a cafe (for example, I’m sitting in a Booster Juice cafe right now as I write this response). I’ve also sat in my local library and in the common study areas of my university. And there have been other times when I’ve stopped to write at a bench, a picnic table, or even just sat on the cool grass on a sunny day while walking in nature.

And that’s been a reliable source of inspiration, as new ideas come to me when I’m surrounded by nature. Living in Metro Vancouver, I’m lucky to be surrounded by many parks and rural areas with sprawling farms and wooded areas. I love hearing the gravel crunch under my feet as I meander along a curving trail, tall cedars and firs reaching tall around me towards the sky, their thick bushy branches shading me from the summer sun illuminating a blue sky high above. The Northshore mountains, and the tree packed forests of the Fraser Valley are an hours drive from where I live, and it’s always an escape to drive along the Sea to Sky Highway alongside the vast depths of water that forms Howe Sound, travelling from Metro Vancouver, passing through Squamish, on my way to Whistler Mountain. In Whistler Village, I love to explore the small shops and galleries and I can always spend several hours breathing in the artwork on display at the Audain Art Gallery. I had a dream once of sharing the first dance with my bride after our wedding, surrounded by the loving gaze of our closest family and friends in the main hall of the Audain, which also serves as an event venue.

——

What places, people, or types of media are inspire you creatively or as a leader?

ARTIFACT 03 > Lee, Steven H. “The Birdhouse: My Home in Surrey, British Columbia.” iPhone 5S Digital Photographic Image, 06 Mar 2017.

My house inspires me. Even though I’ve let it become unorganized and have a lot of work to do to get it back into a place where I can work on my creative projects again, it has been a place that has provided a refuge to learn and play. I love my studio space, and the many inspiring books and movies that I have to fuel my curiosity. I love the supplies and tools I have gathered for use in my creative endeavours.

My house is also fairly close to my Mom’s house. It’s been helpful as she often watches my dog during the day when work or university studies would call me away from my home. She has a yard too that I have tried my best to help out with, cutting the grass, weeding the garden beds, and planting summer annuals. It’s another aspect of nature I can connect with, and it gives me the opportunity to listen to audiobooks while I work. Some of the authors whose books I’ve listened to over the years include Brene Brown (BRAVING THE WILDERNESS: THE QUEST FOR TRUE BELONGING AND THE POWER TO STAND ALONE, and ATLAS OF THE HEART: MAPPING MEANINGFUL CONNECTION AND THE LANGUAGE OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE), Julia Cameron (THE ARTIST’s WAY), Natalie Goldberg (WRITING DOWN THE BONES, WILD MIND, and THE GREAT FAILURE), Shannon Kaiser (JOY SEEKER), as well as Gary Zukav (THE SEAT OF THE SOUL, and UNIVERSAL HUMAN).

One important thing that inspires me is the city in which i am situated. It is close to nature, overlooking a small creek nestled by trees. In the early morning when I head to my car, squirrels and rabbits can often be seen romping around nibbling on the grasses of a small field that’s also by my house. I’m a few blocks from a lovely, forested area that has many beautiful and easy to navigate trails running through them. I love walking my dog through it, and along the suburban sidewalks that lay between my place and the public park. Finally, I am a block and a half away from a wide grassy route that cuts through the town for the high wire power lines that provide power to everyone. Every now and then I’ve been fortunate to see baby deer with their mother traversing this route.

Being close to nature has always been comforting to me, having grown up in a small town, Williams Lake, which is around seven hours northeast of Metro Vancouver by car. I find myself inspired when I’m in nature, and although I try to engage with nature in a manner that’s unmediated, I admit that I often end up pulling out a camera or my sketchbook to try and preserve a part of that experience.

Attending art galleries, museums, and public installations has also fed my creative inspiration over the years. I enjoy moving slowly through an exhibit, spending time with works that stand out for me. I’ll sit with a work, examine it closely and from afar, and if it’s permitted, I’ll photograph it so I can reflect on the piece later on (I used to upload photos of my gallery visits to my Flickr account, but haven’t done this in awhile). I also enjoy photographing other people moving through a gallery space, a personal project whose inspiration lays with the gallery photographs by photographer Thomas Struth.

ARTIFACT 04 > Lee, Steven H. “69 Arhats… (3/5).” Flickr, 24 Apr 2018.

I visited many local galleries fairly regularly before the pandemic, and would travel to Whistler to visit the Audain Gallery, and to Seattle to visit the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), but haven’t in the years since. My last visit to SAM was in January 2020 to see Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting, Judith Slaying Holofernes (1612-13), a powerful work that not only recalls a biblical story but alludes to Gentileschi’s own experience of being raped, combined with an ongoing interest Gentileschi had in portraying strong women in her paintings. Finally, when I travelled through the southeastern United States, New Zealand, and Northwestern Australia in 2009 and 2010, me and my girlfriend at the time made an effort to check out as much art as we could, even taking an art guide from a local hotel room in New Zealand to help us plan our days.

Another source of creative inspiration that has become a regular staple of my artist’s dates in 2025 (artists dates are solo dates that are designed to feed ones inner artist and boost ones creativity) has been seeing movies in the cinema. It’s been a way to escape from my depression, providing a small light in the dark.

——

Are there places or spaces where you find yourself feeling more creative (ex., visiting a museum, traveling, spending time in nature, talking with friends who energize you, etc)?

I don’t find that there are spaces that have made me feel more creative, as I find I’ve been able to get into a flow state wherever I am provided I have an outlet for my creativity. I remember in New Zealand, we visited a beautiful beach where my girlfriend and I were alone. She wanted to swim but I wanted to just relax sitting on a towel. I had my sketchbook with me and I spent an hour sketching the scenery around us: the waves crashing onto the beach, a nearby jetty, and large rocky islands cutting up the horizon.

One thing I do miss at my place is my former girlfriend as we did make art together. She left me in August 2014, and I do miss being in the studio painting or drawing side by side. I miss the photo walks we did together, and the times we’d go out to do projects for our university classes. We had another mutual friend who also joined us on our photo walks, but he passed away in 2023. Unfortunately, my depression had me isolate myself and pull away from my friends, so I only saw him a few times between the pandemic lockdown and his passing. I had known him for 20 years and at one point he, my ex-girlfriend and I spent everyday together as I lived close to the university so we’d bunk at my place, work together, and head to class together. It’s quieter at my place without them. I regret not telling him how much I appreciated his friendship.

Headlines

Each of us has so many possible stories and impactful moments inside of us, though we don't always realize the richness of our own lives.

Set a timer for 2-4 minutes to quickly make a list of "headlines" that share a big picture view related to your life and lived experiences. You may want to start with the sentence "I could tell you about..." and finish the sentence. Feel free to write by hand, type, create a voice memo, etc.

These "headlines" can be wide ranging and may be loose and disconnected, allowing your creative imagination to evolve over the few minutes. For example, your list might start concretely with something like,"I could tell you about living with a disability." And might evolve over a few minutes to "I could tell you about the taste of wild raspberries fresh with mornign dew." Don't worry about making sense, keep going and see what surprises may emerge!

I could tell you about life during and after a stroke.
I could tell you about what it’s like to crave the most unhealthy junk food and sugary drinks.
I could tell you about capturing the light of the golden hour in a landscape painting I created using oil paint on canvas.
I could tell you about being a high functioning individual who is secretly struggling with major depression. By contrast, I could also tell you about stumbling through life, barely able to complete even the most of tasks, while struggling with anxiety and persistent depressive disorder, aka dysthymia.
I could tell you about swimming on a hot summer’s day in the cool, navy blue waters of Felker Lake, where my parents owned a small maroon red cabin.
I could tell you about the cool night breeze gently caressing the nape of my neck as I slowly walk along the empty streets of my suburban neighborhood after midnight.
I could tell you about the pleasure of hauling out and measuring the assorted ingredients used to make fresh Belgium Waffles on Christmas morning.
I could tell you about the intense lonely emptiness I feel when I’m ghosted by someone I thought was my friend.

In a Linear Fashion

I could tell you about swimming on a hot summer’s day in the cool, navy blue waters of Felker Lake, where my parents owned a small maroon red cabin.
I could tell you about capturing the light of the golden hour in a landscape painting I created using oil paint on canvas.
I could tell you about the cool night breeze gently caressing the nape of my neck as I slowly walk along the empty streets of my suburban neighborhood after midnight.
I could tell you about the pleasure of hauling out and measuring the assorted ingredients used to make fresh Belgium Waffles on Christmas morning.
I could tell you about being a high functioning individual who is secretly struggling with major depression. By contrast, I could also tell you about stumbling through life, barely able to complete even the most of tasks, while struggling with anxiety and persistent depressive disorder, aka dysthymia.
I could tell you about the intense lonely emptiness I feel when I’m ghosted by someone I thought was my friend.
I could tell you about what it’s like to crave the most unhealthy junk food and sugary drinks.
I could tell you about life during and after a stroke.

Process Reflection

For this Discussion Prompt, please share a reflection of a few sentences of your experience with this process, and any insights that came up for you about your lived experiences.

I found it interesting to play with the process of writing about parts of my life that could form a larger, and hopefully captivating story for readers to discover. I often wonder and even worry that the possible stories I have to share are not that interesting, but ultimately thats just my monkey mind creating negative persistent thoughts to try and bring me down. I found it curious to see how my mind moved from my health, to a moment from my youth, to a hobby I hope to carve into my career (painting), to cooking breakfast on Christmas morning. I don’t know why but I then rearranged them, to give them a kind of linear structure from my distant past to the present day… I think I may copy what I wrote and place them back into the order that they came out as I originally wrote them.

— End of Week 01 —

Header Image > Lee, Steven. “A Sense of Self.” Acrylic and Oil on Canvas. ~1990s.