Telling Your Story

Since the beginning of time we have been telling our stories. Humans have always relied on stories to connect. History is written in part by people telling stories of their realities and their worlds as they saw it. Not only is it a way for people to connect but it also helps us understand each other and our experiences. Storytelling helps us open up, discover new things, learn about our pasts, and teach our future generations.

As someone who has lived a full life, you have so much to tell! Your children and grandchildren will love and remember you for it always. Just think of how much you loved hearing stories from your parents and relatives when you were younger. Do you remember that story your dad always used to tell that you loved so much?

But, where do you start? That’s what I’d like to help you with. Ultimately, you just need to start! Start by telling the truth. Your truth. Something that marked you. Even if it seems small. If you read my story, you already know how important names are to my heritage. We pass along names as a way of passing along our history in hopes that future generations will want to know more about us and where they came from. It’s part of our story. You will be creating this same type of curiosity by telling your story.

Start thinking about it

Start with something simple. Perhaps the story of graduating from high school, your first crush, or maybe about your wedding. It can be anything at all. As long as it’s yours. Start thinking about how that experience made you feel. What was special about it? Why do you still remember it after all of these years? You don’t have to tell your story in the order that it happened. You can tell it based on the events that had the most impact on your life.

Write it down

Start writing down everything you can remember. Once you start, you may realize the story flows right out of you. Sometimes starting to write it down is the thing you needed to remember all of the details, emotions, and whatever else made that moment such a special part of your life. All of those details are important. Especially if you can remember and write down how it felt. That’s what will make your story so special.

Do it again

Don’t just stop at one. If you think of another one, write it down too! You may want to take a break in between. Sometimes remembering all of the old feelings and thoughts you’ve had can be draining, in a good way. It can also be tiring to write if you’re not used to it. That’s perfectly normal. Feel free to take as much time in between stories as you need. Then do it again.

Tell your story

This may be the most challenging part. I assure you; it will also be the most rewarding. Now that you have one or a few stories written down. Start telling them to others. You can start talking to your family, friends, or whoever you feel comfortable with. Sometimes it may even be a stranger or an acquaintance. That’s ok too! It’s not always easy to tell these stories to the people you are closest to at first. Keep practicing and when you are ready to share with your family, you will know.

Create your digital memoir

This is a great time to start working on your digital memoir. With your digital memoir, you can add pictures that mark the stories you want to tell. You use your what you’ve written down to tell the story of each picture. Want to create your digital memoir but not sure how to get started? I created a simple, easy to follow course just for you. You will learn step-by-step how to combine your pictures and stories to create a beautiful, clean, easy to follow, visual representations of some of the most important events of your life. Click here to get started.

There you have it. You did it! You got past any worry or discomfort you may have had and you wrote your first memoir. Now it’s time to share it. Share it with your family, share it with anyone. It’s something they will cherish forever. They will have pictures of their history that may have otherwise been kept in boxes and stories they may have never hear if it weren’t for your digital memoir. You will create even more memories from the connection that you built just by sharing your story. Enjoy it!

It doesn’t have to end there. You’ve started something important, that you get so much out of. Keep writing! Keep telling your stories. Even if you don’t think they are important, they can have a major impact on someone else. Just because you finished your memoir, doesn’t mean you’ve said everything you need to say! Keep going. The more stories you write down, the more you have to work with. You can even start compiling them by theme and creating themed memoirs. The world is a much better place with stories like yours.