Why to write your life’s stories.
Today you are You
that is truer than true.
There is no one alive
who is Youer than You.
Your written legacy – THE GIFT OF YOU – is the most important thing you’ll ever write.
Almost everyone agrees that writing one’s life stories – memoirs – autobiography – ethical will — is a good thing to do. You’ve probably said to yourself or your children, “Yeah, I’ll do it . . . someday.” The problem is, “someday” keeps moving farther away.
How important is it to get your life’s adventures, experiences, lessons, etc., down on paper? It’s crucial.
Here are the 7 top reasons to write your life’s stories:
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It will ensure that you’ll be remembered. If, 100 years from now, you don’t want to be merely a name on a genealogy chart, you have to write your life’s stories.
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It will stimulate your mind and help prevent dementia/Alzheimer’s.
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You’ll end up feeling good about yourself; enhance self-esteem.
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You’ll learn a lot about your life and become better able to put it in perspective.
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You’ll exorcise your demons. Writing about the tough parts of your life is good therapy. The power your traumas had over you will diminish.
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Your physical health may improve. Your traumas are trapped in your cells and joints. By writing about them, you release them and – viola! — your chronic symptoms are likely to ease, if not disappear.
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You’ll get more out of life. Trust me, you will.
Writing the recollections of your life is one of the most enjoyable and the most rewarding things you’ll ever do. The rewards carry down through the generations. Your children and grandchildren, and their children and grandchildren, etc., will thank you for it.
As much as you don’t want to end up merely a piece of bark on the family tree, your descendants won’t want that either. They’ll want to know you. They’ll want to know what made you you; your relationships with your parents and grandparents, friends, spouse(s), children; what made you laugh; what made you cry; how you made your life-altering decisions; your romances, and 1000 other things. So write your life’s stories.
You’re a V.I.P.
You’re the only one who can tell your stories – because you’re the only one who knows them. That makes you a V.I.P. — Very Important Person.
Psychologists tell us that a large part of our sense of Self — our identity — comes from knowledge of our heritage. Our ancestors are part of us. We have their DNA. A lot of who we are came from them.
Likewise, your descendants have your DNA. You are part of them. By letting them know about you, they are able to connect with you in a very real and meaningful way. Write your life’s stories!
“But I’m not a writer,” you say. It doesn’t matter. Write them anyway. If you absolutely cannot write, talk them into a tape recorder or camcorder. But — and this is very important — make sure they get written down. Get someone to type them for you. Make copies which are kept in different places. Read my book — Your Life Oughta Be A Book — to find out why.
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My “How-to/Why-to” book on memoir writing, Your Life Oughta Be A Book, is available as a Kindle eBook at http://tinyurl.com/qbos8af. It’s chock-full of helpful ideas and stories to inspire you to write your life’s stories.
My own book of memoirs, That’s Life, which I published to serve as an inspiration to others, has been extremely useful to many writers, if only to remind them of incidents and events in their own lives, which they then wrote about. In addition, it’s a darn good read, with approximately 100 short life stories – funny, poignant, sad, joyful, miraculous, amazing. It is available on Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/ob9c7de
Articles on the first 5 of the 7 top reasons to write your life’s stories are already on http://GoldenAgersRock.com. The other 2 will follow shortly.
1. To Be remembered: http://goldenagersrock.com/1-reason-to-write-your-life-story.html 2. To Stimulate Your Mind: http://goldenagersrock.com/2-reason-to-write-your-life-stories.html 3. To Feel Good About Yourself: http://goldenagersrock.com/3-reason-to-write-your-life-stories.html 4. Self-Discovery: http://goldenagersrock.com/4-reason-to-write-your-life-stories-self-discovery.html 5. Good Therapy: http://goldenagersrock.com/5-reason-to-write-your-life-stories-its-good-therapy.html