Each of is living our personal story! We are living through something that no one else can copy. One of the great things about the computer age we live in, is the easy accessibility of sharing our story. Do you write for therapy or for family? For your friends? Do you use a journal or diary? Have you turned your writing into a source of income?

Everyone has a Story to Tell!

For some of us who love to blog, we have discovered that blogging is the best place to share the story of our life. One friend blogs about her family adventures but she keeps the blog address private and only shares it with her close circle of friends and family.

Other bloggers like me choose to share our memories in a public forum. We post for the world to read, but more importantly so we can look back over the years and read about our adventures.
(Along the way, some of us bloggers have turned our writing and blogging into opportunities to make money and provide experiences for our families.)

How to capture your story:

For the older generation that cannot type or use a computer, we can use phones, cameras and other recording devices. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive equipment – just use what you already have.

A few years ago, I sat down at the piano beside my Granddaddy who had composed hundreds of gospel songs in his lifetime. As I played through his songbook, he told me the stories of where the inspiration came from for each song. His arthritic hands could no longer play and his voice was no longer strong or on pitch but his mind was still sharp and his ear was spot on. We didn’t have fancy recording equipment, just an old Video Recorder. But we captured some of his memories.

Recently while visiting with my 95 year old Grandma I asked her permission to video her answers to some questions. I just pointed my phone toward her face and asked questions. I ended up capturing a family treasure as she talked about her memories of quilting through her life.

If you love to write your thoughts down but feel like you are too busy to keep a traditional diary, maybe you would do better with a One Line a Day: A Five-Year Memory Book. When something happens that I want to remember, I pull it out and just scribble my quick thought on the line for that day. The fun thing about this 5 year journal is that I can quickly see what happened on that day last year.

Where do you find a place to share your story?

Some people like to write their story in a Word document on the computer. One year, one of my family members shared the story of his life with us kids. He had been working on the document for many months, then for Christmas he printed it out and shared it with us. Blogs are another good starting point to begin to tell your story. They are a low pressure audience and don’t cost a penny to get started.

Editorial columns in a local newspaper, round robin emails, community newsletters or private Facebook groups are more great places to share your story and perspective on life.

Why is it important to tell our story?

Each of us knows something unique because of how we have grown up and what we have experienced in our lives! Why not share our story with others so they can learn from us, laugh with us and remember the things that made our life so special!

I’d love to hear why you think it is important to share with the world the things that you experience!

Excerpts of this article appeared in the print edition of the Advocate Messenger, Danville, Kentucky 9/20/15.