Who are you?
I didn’t ask who you think you are, who people say you are, or who you want to be. Who are you?
You really can’t know that unless you write it down, examine it, and test it. And one of the best ways to start is to write your own biography.
Autobiography is a very interesting pursuit. It’s a fairly recent literary trend (within the last 200 years or so). You may be surprised that many of the current autobiographies that you see in bookstores aren’t autobiographies at all, they’re ghostwritten biographies. Frankly, they usually have been. One of my personal favorites, The Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, was actually written by Charles Dickens. Here’s the Amazon link - others are available.
Autobiographies can be self indulgent, but they don’t have to be. And they don’t have to be a capstone on a life. A good autobiography can be short, a simple history, or a statement of where you’ve come from and where you are today.
To that end, a single page autobiography can help you see yourself clearly.
The limits of a single page are severe, but that will help you focus. Tell the story of your life in the simplest terms, then ask yourself, “Is this accurate? Is this really me?”
And if it’s not, try again. Repeat until you’re satisfied that this single page represents your story.
For today’s assignment, write the story of your life on one page.
For bonus points, repeat yearly throughout your life.
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