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It's almost here-that marvelous, magical millennium moment, when the clock chines midnight, the calendar page turns, and our wonderful world becomes another century older. It's a moment for memories, a moment to pause on the threshold of the future and look back across the past. Let's take some time to capture some of the experiences you'd most like to remember as you move forward into the twenty-first century. In a few pages of your notebook, let's create your Millennium Memoir-decade by decade.
The Decades of Your Life
Label a page for each decade of your life, from the birth to the present time. (If you were born in 1936, your first decade will be 1936-1946.) In three or four sentences, sketch out what you were doing during this decade. Where did you live? With whom? As you think about the shape of the decade, see if you can come up with a name for it. For example, a decade that included college and cross-country travel might be called "Explorations."
The Decade in Pictures
For each decade, find several photographs that picture you alone or with family and friends and put them in plastic photo sleeves that you can place in your notebook. Caption the photos with dates and brief descriptions. If some of the photos bring back special memories, take a few moments to write about that time. If you have other mementos of the decade-clippings, letters, wedding announcements, you might want to include them as well.
Reliving Each Decade
It's often easiest to remember and capture the past by making lists, then writing a few sentences about each thing on the list. Here are some ways you can use lists to relieve each decade in your Millennium Memoir.
- Achievements
For each decade, list and briefly describe your most important and memorable achievements: exciting things you accomplished alone or with family, friends, or co-workers.
- Surprises
Write down three or four of the biggest surprises of each decade. Why were these events surprising to you?
- Most memorable activities
What activities do you most remember from each decade? (I'll always remember the decade from 1970-1980 as the years I became a proficient sailor!)
- Favorite songs, movies, special events
Important times of our lives may be marked by shared memories of music (Guy Lombardo?) or an outstanding film (The Sting?) or a spectacular event (going to hear the Beatles?) Write down as many of these as you can remember for each decade.
- Disappointments
Life brings failure as well as success. Write briefly about the most memorable disappointments you experienced in each decade. What lessons did these teach you?
- Difficult Times
Each decade has its painful passages-days of grief and loss. What talents and strengths did you use to help you get through the hard times? On whom did you depend for help? How did you keep your spirits up?
- Times of Joy
Each decade also brings its own unique and delightful pleasures. What were the best times of each decade? Why were these particular moments so special?
A Millennium Memoir is a precious document-a powerful aid to recalling your past and a wonderful means of taking you from one century to another. It won't take long to put it together, and you'll enjoy the memories it helps you to harvest!
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THE MILLENNIUM RESOLUTIONS OF A LIFE-WRITER
For many of us, the new century may open a new chapter in our lives, if only because it brings us to a deeper awareness of the passing of time and the need to more fully understand our developing and changing stories. With this in mind, we'd like to suggest some important New Year's resolutions for life-writers.
I RESOLVE
- to journal as often and as regularly as I can, in order to capture both the daily experiences of my life as they occur and the feelings that accompany these events
- to create a Millennium Memoir that will help me describe and understand the important events of my past
- to take advantage of the publication opportunities offered by the Story Circle Journal to share my life-writing
- to gather my friends together and create a Story Circle, so that together we may experience the benefits of telling and sharing our stories
- to share with other women, as often as I can, the idea that our stories have value and significance and need to be told
- to consciously seek ways to celebrate my story and the stories of other women on every day of my life!
About LifeStory Briefs
LifeStory Briefs is a series of tip sheets to help women create their life stories. This number was written by
Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Network Inc. For information about the series or the Network, contact us via email:
storycircle@storycircle.org
or phone:
512-454-9833
or write to:
Story Circle Network
P.O. Box 500127
Austin, TX 78750-0127
http://www.storycircle.org
© 1999 by Story Circle Network
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