We all have a story to tell, whether you publish it or keep it to yourself or family; allow yourself to be heard.
(Madisyn Taylor)
Everyone, at one time or another, has wanted to express his or her story. Writing a memoir to read privately, share with family or friends, or publish is an emotionally satisfying way to gain perspective on your experiences while sharing your unique voice.
We've all experienced feelings and events in our lives that we are longing to write down. Giving in to that urge can give you an outlet for purging any frustration, anxiety, or long-dormant feelings. Satisfying the need to tell your story is not predicated upon your writing ability. It does, however, take effort to write down the truth in detail. Your memories, captured on paper as descriptive scenes, sights, sounds, and scents, may at first seem disconnected or incomplete. But rest assured that you possess the ability to shape your recollections into stories.
No one else has to read it (unless you want them to).
Writing your story can also help you understand your life experiences. And when you finish writing, you may be surprised at what you have accomplished. Your story can encompass as much or as little of your life as you prefer.
Research has shown that writing a personal narrative filled with feelings and perceptions can create long-term health benefits. As you write, remember to have compassion for yourself, particularly when writing about traumatic events. If you are a young person, you can add to your life story as you grow older. Your writing may help family members know you better, or they may understand themselves more through reading about your experiences. More importantly, you are expressing yourself in a permanent way, giving a gift to yourself, and letting your voice be heard.
My Thoughts:
This is never going to be an easy thing to do. Usually by the time most people get around to wanting to undertake the challenge they have lived a full and expansive life already, or they have gone through something that they feel the need to write about. The material to work with will be vast and the prospect of working out where to start could be daunting.
My advice would be to not think about doing it all in one go from start to finish, as this will probably seem too overwhelming, but rather think about concentrating on specific areas one at a time. This could be working on periods of a life (childhood through to the adult years), or maybe concentrate on incidents individually and then link them together (this is how I tackle things). It may be beneficial to write headings of the things you want to write about and flit between them as you remember more details.
If writing your life story another way to get some order is to look though old photographs. Jot down on the back all the details you can remember, especially when and where it was taken. Talk to family members about what they recall about them and even revisit the area to see how much has changed (seeing how things are now often triggers memories of how they used to be). Then arrange them in date order and write-up what you know about each before linking them together.
When writing about a certain event do some research into the things that were happening in the world at that time, especially the local news as this will help as a memory jog for background information. Talk to people that used to be around at that time, you don’t need to talk about specific incidents, especially if they were traumatic, but you may find out things you did not know or had forgotten about from that period. If it something that you are experiencing or living though and know you want to record it, try keeping a journal or writing a diary.
One last point … it might be worth remembering that even though you might write with the intention of it not being shared, there is no guarantee that will be the case. There could be a risk of it being discovered, maybe by accident or that it will come to light after your death.
So, even though you write it as a true account it might be worth considering the impact it will have later, especially if you are not around to give any explanations or clarity.