Participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

Early on when I started this blog (2010), I often wrote about the importance of telling your story. I said if you don’t, your words will die with you. I still feel that way, only more so.

Since I retired from teaching nursing in 2000, I’ve met many writers in various workshops. Some were writing fiction, but most were writing memoir. As we work shopped each participant’s story in class, I heard life stories of all kinds and saw many smiles, as well as tears.

I’ve seen how cathartic writing has been. And then found out for myself as I took the notes I’d taken during my husband’s terminal illness and made them into story. Some days, I couldn’t see the keyboard through my tears. But then I felt so much better after all the words were written. Writing was a way of processing waves of grief.

 I want to say once again that everyone has a story, whether or not you think you have anything noteworthy to write about your life. Your story may have pieces that help someone else.

For a few examples just today. I heard from a blogger friend about how a loved one has died recently and how this has affected other aspects of her life. I could relate and send an encouraging word. I read another blogger’s account of what travel has been like for her at 88. After my recent nightmarish flight to Michigan, I felt better when I read about what she’s learned about adjustments we must make as we grow older. Another older woman wrote of her experience as a recent widow. I loved that she hated the word widow like I do.

Do you see my point? We can identify with pieces of other’s stories. We can learn from them. We can learn more about ourselves as we work to get our own words on paper. Our words will be appreciated by future generations. I enjoy reading my grandma’s poems, my dad’s Seven Major Decisions he made in life, and my mother’s diaries. Like my kids, when my husband was suddenly given only a few weeks to live. They suddenly wanted to know his stories about being raised on the farm, about sharing a house with eight siblings, about the outhouse, about the business he’d started.

It’s easier now than ever to leave your story. Write down topics that are meaningful to you. Take time out to dictate on your phone what you want to say about each topic. Then find a transcriptionist. Or dictate into your computer program and make a Word document. A topic a day for twenty minutes gives your thirty topics in a month. Your first memory. Your first day of school. An embarrassing moment. You get the idea.

My photo today highlights the books writing friends along the way have written. That bottom shelf is in my front foyer. I walk past it several times a day. Those books inspire me. You can write one too! Your story matters!