When you joined the church, did you find yourself making lists of all the things you needed to “catch up” on? It might seem there are a lot of tasks that would be easier if you had joined the church sooner and started doing them at a younger age, such as writing your personal history. The younger you are, the less there is to say, after all.
It might feel overwhelming to get your entire life story on paper, but there isn’t a rule that says it has to be done all at once, or even all in order. You just need to start. If you add a little bit every week, you’ll catch up in no time, unless your life is very exciting.
Have you ever had days when a past event just seems to be on your mind? This is the perfect day to get that event in writing. Sit down and write out the details while you’re thinking about them. Include as much as you can remember and use all your senses to tell the story. Explain how you felt and how the event impacted your life.
The next time an event comes to mind, write it down. It doesn’t matter if the event is out of order. You don’t have to record each event in order. Just put down the current memory and then put it in order in the notebook you created for the purpose. To make it easier, you may want to put in tabs divided by various periods in your life—childhood, college, child rearing, and so on. When you write about something, find the correct tab and then skim the events already in that section to decide where the new story belongs.
While you’re getting caught up with the past, start a journal. Write in it every Sunday evening, if not more often. This will keep you from getting any further behind, since current events will be written about as they happen. In the future, when you’re caught up, you may want to copy moments from your journal to place into the notebook, but for now, just focus on getting your notebook filled with memories of the past.
The memories you choose don’t have to be big, important ones. Read the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Many of her memories are small moments that seemed ordinary at the time—the contents of a Christmas stockings, the makings of the first meal in her married home, the daily chores. But millions of children each year read those “ordinary” moments as special literature. You never know what the world will be like in the future, so record it all, the big and the small.
The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.
