The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: enpower on October 29, 2014, 03:47:13 PM
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This might seem a bit odd, but over the past couple of years, I've wanted to write (or put together then framework) an autobiography of my life.
I read a lot of biographies and autobiographies of famous sports people, businessmen and women, leaders and anyone I deem to be interesting.
It also isn't a coincidence that three of my grandparents have passed away over the past two years and I would have liked to have known more about their life story, their childhood, what their first house purchase was like, how they raised my parents, etc. I felt like I never had these conversations with them.
I'm considering starting an online journal to record noteworthy events that have happened in my life, what the thoughts inside my head were at the time, etc. I've previously set up blogs covering me training for my first marathon and also a personal finance type blog that kind of flopped and went no-where. I want to write for myself rather than an online audience, so hence the journal.
Anyone else journal or think writing their own autobiography would be a worthwhile pursuit?
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I've journaled off and on for a while, not because I think they will be interesting to anyone, but because my memory is bad, and I like to use the process to chew on my thoughts and responses to things. I've gone back and read it now and then, and find it interesting and useful.
I really, really like doing it, and think that I'm happier when I do it. You can edit for others later if you think it would be helpful or interesting to others.
One of my favorite uses is to go back and read what I was feeling with hindsight--things often work themselves out.
It seemed to me I could do my mind no greater favor than to let it entertain itself in full idleness and stay and settle in itself, which I hoped it might do more easily now, having become weightier and riper with time. But I find--ever idle hours breed wandering thoughts--that, on the contrary, like a runaway horse, it gives itself a hundred times more trouble than it took for others, and gives birth to so many chimeras and fantastic monsters, one after another, without order or purpose, that in order to contemplate their ineptitude and strangeness at my pleasure, I have begun to put them in writing, hoping in time to make my mind ashamed of itself.
Montaigne, Of Idleness.
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The first question that comes to mind: to what point and purpose?
Why do you want to write it, and who is your audience?
Is this for yourself to look back on? For future grandkids? For a general audience?
What do you hope to get out of it?
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The first question that comes to mind: to what point and purpose?
Why do you want to write it, and who is your audience?
Is this for yourself to look back on? For future grandkids? For a general audience?
What do you hope to get out of it?
I want to write a journal, autobiography or a mixture of the two for several reasons:
- I want a creative outlet. I have tried night school art classes, woodwork, yoga, etc but these really aren’t quite me. I like reading, writing and putting thoughts into writing. I write myself notes, emails, etc daily to get my thoughts down on ‘paper’.
- The purpose of writing autobiography style journal entries is for myself and also for future children and grandchildren. I want to be able to look back at things throughout life (wedding, first child, death in the family, new jobs, sporting achievements) and be able to reflect back on these personally as well as share them with other close family and friends.
- I hope to be able to have something tangible that I can look back on when I’m in later life, perhaps make a book out of it. I also want to have an outlet for my creativity and be able to put thoughts onto paper as this helps with my mental clarity.
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I like to use the process to chew on my thoughts and responses to things. I've gone back and read it now and then, and find it interesting and useful.
I really, really like doing it, and think that I'm happier when I do it. You can edit for others later if you think it would be helpful or interesting to others.
One of my favorite uses is to go back and read what I was feeling with hindsight--things often work themselves out.
Can you give examples of what sort of things you journal about?
I find that looking back at hindsight is one of the purposes of journal writing for myself also.