You may have had friends suggest that you write your biography and think to yourself, “Who would want to know my story? I just lived my life and it wasn’t that exciting.” What you may find is that, once you get started, your life is a lot more interesting in the retelling and you will enjoy revisiting your journey through life from the perspective of where you are now.
What I have found in the stories of the people I have interviewed over the years is a congruity in their journeys. A childhood experience can have a profound impact on their adventures as an adult. Did that happen to you?
If you are familiar with labyrinths, a person walks on a path that leads toward the center of the labyrinth and then back out. There is no getting lost. It is not a maze where people get lost and not make it to the goal point. Did you feel that you were in a maze in your youth? Did you have a struggle finding your path in life? Guess what, you’ve made it to where you are now. Why not take some time and reflect on the path looking back? You might surprise yourself and see that there really was a flow in the decisions you made, and you were on a path leading you to where you are now, even if you didn’t know it.
I have heard some wonderful stories of synchronicity, my clients meeting someone, seemingly randomly, who became their spouse with whom they had a wonderful family, or possibly a mentor at work who helped them get to a better career. After talking through their experiences, many clients can see how the sequence of events in their lives have an amazing connection and feel a sense of wonder and gratitude.
Before starting your project, I strongly encourage you taking the time to inventory of how much energy, time and money you want to spend compiling your life story? I have divided the possibilities into four packages:
The Spring Package is about your best memories of a time in your life. Did your family travel or live in a special place you have fond memories of? Was there a school you attended that was particularly meaningful to you? This project can be a short one, yet special for the ones you share it with.
The Summer Package is where you talk about five generations of your family (or more) – your grandparents, parents, yourself, children, and grandchildren. It is good to do this while you have the energy and recall ability, making a great book with lots of fun anecdotes about your whole family. This can include pictures and a genealogy.
The Fall Package is where you give an overview of your whole life and make references to other people in your life. This will be a smaller investment of time, energy and money than the Summer Package. It will have a compilation of the stories that come easily to mind and will include your favorite pictures. This is truly a wonderful gift for the family to get to know you better and for you to better understand your past and your journey.
The Winter Package helps you share what is in your heart in a brief page or two manuscript. You get to share the most important lessons, or pieces of important family history, you’ve learned in your lifetime and want to pass on. It is a way to share a brief overview of your life, your values, life lessons, hopes and dreams. While it is not a legal document, it can be the most precious gift you leave behind for those following to treasure.
The point I want to make is that you will find this to be a meaningful exercise for yourself and you can share your story in a manner that feels appropriate to you. You control how large of a project you will be working on should you decide to write your personal story or have a personal historian help you through the project. Take the time to plan what you want to be sure to cover.
Once you get started, you can still adjust the scope and make it more comprehensive or shorter. If you have been thinking of getting your life stories in a book or manuscript there is no time is like the present. You will be giving yourself and your family a gift.
Connie Shipley, Capturing Your Life Stories
Personal Historians NW 