Writing Your Own Legacy Story

I used to think preserving my photos in scrapbooks was for my kids. I have learned over the years that it’s really for me. Sure, they will get the byproduct of it when I’m gone, and, sure, they can look through their own life stories as told in pictures right now, but since I’m the one putting it together, I’m the one getting all the personal memory-keeping benefits like feeling centered and grounded, having an increase in gratitude and perspective, and a big mood boost and relaxation.

It’s the same for writing your own story.

Sure, you might think of it as something you’ll pass on after you’re gone, but it’s really for you. Now. Today. For many of the same reasons.

Why Would I Want to Write My Story?

Sometimes we think of writing our story as a memoir, a sunset-years thing to do. The truth is, writing your story can be beneficial at any time of life. Here’s why:

If you’re a journaler, you may have a head start on your life story, but a life story is a little different than journaling, even though they are indeed related. A life story, as Angie Lucas says, is a reflection and a collection. It’s a wider view.

Sitting down to write your life story is sitting down with your life’s experience and putting words to it. You make sense of things. You take time to think through your experiences as you put an order and a narrative to it. A greater understanding of yourself often leads to a greater sense of peace.

Even writing about hard stuff can be beneficial. Here are a few tips for writing about hard things. Remember, too, that you don’t have to write about every second of your life to have a powerful experience creating your legacy story. Write about the basics and add the most impactful themes or things you never want to forget. It doesn’t have to be exhaustive to be perfect for you.

How to Start

If you already have an idea for writing your legacy story, start there. But, if you don’t, there are some nice resources to help get the ball rolling and ideas flowing, such as:

• 52 Stories prompts
• Creating Family Stories
• Know Who You Are with These 25 Questions
• Your Legacy Story: Questions to Spark Your Narrative

There’s one big thing NOT to do.

Don’t (do. not.) write up your legacy story and save it to your computer and leave it there. Computers are password-protected these days. Who else can get into your computer besides you? If anyone, will they know where you find your legacy story? Will anyone even know you wrote it? It’s also SO important to remember that technology is a fickle friend. Computer crashes are more common that we’d like.

So I definitely recommend printing your legacy story as a book. This way, you can also add photos to your story, too, if you want! Plus, you’ll have a digital copy of it that’s shareable, a safe back-up in case something ever happens to the original.

The heirloom-quality book you see above is the (free) Tell Your Story template, and the one below is called Vintage Family Memories.

And, yes, writing your story is for you, but it doubles as a gift to the people who love you. They’ll want to be able to find, access, and read it easily.

Video Tutorial Help

I taught a class about creating your legacy story in a book a few years ago, and this is the quick tutorial I created to walk the students through what it would actually look like. So, have a peek at this 4-minute video to see how you can write your legacy story RIGHT HERE in the book, choosing the pages you like, whether you choose to include photos or not.