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This is the first sunrise of the New Millennium.
Autobiography
Retirement is a transition and at any transition point it can
be helpful to take some time to review where you have been and what you
have been doing and thinking. This is a natural time to review you life. It
can be something that you add to periodically in the future as events
remind you of things from your past. It is also like a attic cleaning,
sorting through your experiences; polishing up some and boxing up some and
sending it to the dumpster. You'll go into retirement with lightened
baggage.
It is not my thought to get into an "Earl" deal. But that might
be a subject for another set of essays.
This review could just be a matter of daydreaming about what might have
been or your favorite memories or it can take a more formal structure, a
written structure. I guess it could be a audio recording also, but I think
the process of actually writing down events and ideas provides more of an
opportunity to ponder and remember. To me it is deeper and ends up being
less superficial.
There also are many possible ways of writing an Autobiography. I'm only
talking about my approach. What I did was start with a list of dates. Your
birthdate. Your first day at school. High school graduation. College
experiences. Wedding. Your children's births. Etc.... Once you get started
many dates and events will flow into your memory and then onto the page.
Next take your list and put the events into time sequence. Next break the
list into decades like 50's, 60's etc.. up to the present date and
maybe add a few decades into the future. You might want to add some future
dates like when your children and grandchildren will graduate, retire,
etc... The next step is to construct a historical event list --- end
of WWII, Eisenhower elected president, Korean War, Women's Movement,
etc... Now blend this list with your life list. I should probably
construct a draft list of historic events to get people started.
This combined list is the outline structure of your biography. You can of
course add events and dates to the list at anytime. When you get engaged in
the process, new events will pop into your mind. The actual writing will
begin now. As you have time, pick an item in the list and write 200 to 500
words elaborating, explaining or commenting. Now you have your working
autobiography.
You may have already written important parts as Christmas Letters or other
summaries of family events.
I think you will find this
an enjoyable activity. Memories will come back to you. No one else has to
read your writing but you. However your children and grandchildren might
enjoy reading your memories. Although beware they probably remember events
differently. It is also good to avoid any negative comments about family in
you autobiography if you expect them to read it.
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