At 61, I decided I need a better understand of “Why am I the person that I am?” It was not an effort to better myself or to settle any depression or haunting problems but instead it was an exploration that led me far into my memory.
The Swedish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard noted, “Life can only be understood backwards.” I had just retired and I had realized that in my life and career I had repeated my same victories and had as well repeated my same failings. As hard as I tried I could not change, the pattern of my life seemed to have been predetermined. I wanted to know how that pattern had been set and “Why I was who I was.”
Two other factors entered into my decision to write a Life Review. First I didn’t know how much more time I had and I wanted to make
the most of the rest of my life; that is I wanted to live it to the fullest and I wanted to concentrate
on my strengths and avoid my weaknesses. Second, I wanted to leave something behind. I know more about George Washington and Abe Lincoln then I know about either of my grandfathers and I didn’t want to die at my death.
I’ll write more about the process, writing, interviewing relatives, editing and self publishing in future posts. You can sign up to follow my posts through the RSS Feed on the right.
Tags: life review, life review questions, menoir, writing a life review