Organize Your Life History and Find Joy

Written by Tiffany on January 29, 2021. Posted in American, Denmark, Norway, Organization, Sweden.

Are you ready to tackle your life history? What about just doing a page at a time? How do you even organize that without getting overwhelmed? I love life histories! I have always kept journals, albeit not perfectly, but I understand the principle about why we do it. I’ve gone back and read journals from when I was 13, 16, a newlywed, a new mom, etc. and found so much joy from seeing how I’ve grown. I am truly blessed! So in this article I will share some ideas on how you can get organized with what you want to journal and how to take started.

organize your life history and find joy, www.savvygenealogy.com

Start with the End in Mind

If you haven’t heard of Becky Higgins and her documenting business, then you have been living under a rock! No seriously, this is her phrase when starting any new documenting project. You have to start with the end in mind. What is the end goal of this life history? Is it to share with your children and grandchildren? Is it just for you? How will this help you now and in the future? Will it contain pictures and sources or is it more of a journal with emotional writing.

Gather Your Stuff for Your Life History

This is especially helpful if you’ve already journaled in the past or kept your photos generally organized. Now you need to make a paper folder and a computer folder for this particular project. Right now I’m working on documenting my church job of President of our Women’s Organization and all the ups and downs that come with such a big job. So I’m gathering newsletters, weekly emails, photos, texts, and other documents. Then this pile helps me figure out how I’m going to organize it into a cohesive unit. If I have more papers and not many photos, then I might decide to use a 3 ring binder to organize it. Do I have more photos and experiences to share? Then maybe a bound photo book would be better.

Decide How Narrow or Wide Your Project Should Be

Will this project span your whole lifetime or just one special part of your life? This will determine if you’re using all of your stuff that you’ve gathered or part of it. It will also decide if you need to gather more information from friends and relatives who were there for those events. For me, I like to organize just my perspective on events so that I’m not overwhelmed. When I start thinking of who I need to call to get the most accurate depiction of that event, then my brain shuts down. So I’ve learned to write parts of my story from my perspective and if I want to learn more about an event, then I can do it in small amounts.

Watch Your Brain While Doing Your Life History

This is a crucial step if this project is going to be long term. At first, you’re very excited about a new project and the momentum is very easy to find. But what happens when the newness wears off and you’re stuck with the hard, tedious work? Your brain will tell you that you can do it later, you’re not in the mood right now, something or someone is more important right now, etc. This is where discipline comes in. You schedule a part of your day or week for this project and you stick to your promise to yourself. If that doesn’t work, then having an accountability buddy really can come in handy when your motivation is lacking.

The goal here is to expect your brain will come up with every excuse imaginable to get you not to do this new project. Your brain is awesome at trying to find the easiest path of least resistance. So if you have to make new brain thoughts about this project, then your brain will resist. So just be ready for it and write down all of your mental excuses stopping you from organizing and doing your life story. Then challenge every single one of them! See if you can find a new believable thought that can take the excuse’s place and help with your motivation. You will be surprised at how much motivation you get from doing this simple activity.

Perfection is NOT Required

People say this all the time, “It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress.” Do you believe that? Sometimes, you will get hung up on what’s the best way to do a project like this. Or what are the right tools to get the best result. I’m all for researching for what works for you, but if you’re researching too much, then it’s time to stop! Take a small risk and just get started. You can learn along the way. The result of this project is to have a physical product in your hand. So what will it take for you to get that result because I can tell you from experience that the more brain power you waste on getting every detail right, the more it won’t get done!

My Current Favorite Tools for a Life History

Conclusion

Life histories are my favorite way to do genealogy besides the research. It allows me to know myself and others on a deeper level. I see how we’ve grown, what we’ve overcome, and what we’ve learned from life. This article is just to get you started. So see my other posts on this topic.