* This post originally appeared on Medium.
Of all possible activities involved in human existence, creating your autobiography may be the most personal, meaningful and valuable. Each of us has the capacity to produce an autobiography. You may write it. Video record it. Film it. Set it to music. Shout it from the tallest building in whichever city you choose or at an open mic night at your favorite nightclub. Or you may lay awake at night quietly composing it in your mind.
There are many ways to create your autobiography, but it’s important to begin to think about it today. Right now. Why? As Walter Whitman noted in his poem O Me! O Life!, “That you are here — that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” To which the late actor Robin Williams as Mr. John Keating in the movie Dead Poet’s Society turns to look at you with wonderment and joy in his face to ask “What will your verse be?”
Your Here and Now
Only you exist in this place in this moment reading this. Only you can look back at your life from this place and moment knowing how you arrived here. Your autobiography is a mirror through which only you can look. Your memory may be a bit hazy at first, but it’ll gradually clear, and events will begin to come into focus with a little effort.
How distant in your past would you like to begin? Are you among the rare people who genuinely recalls the day you were born? Or is this part of your story something only your mom, dad, or someone else can convey to you? Are the details of this part of your life seemingly lost because no one else who was there that day is alive today? Do you have a birth certificate? Do you have a baby book? Is there anything to attach you to the day you were born? Do you not know the date of your birth? Every one of these possibilities is part of your autobiography. If you want to share this part of your story with the world, how will you present it?
As we move forward in our lives, we have our own unique times and places, but our autobiography doesn’t need to be a chronological sequence of events. Only you can choose which here and now will begin your autobiography. Only you can choose how other parts of your life led to or from that here and now.
Which here and now comes to your mind as you read this here and now?
Your Why
When you think about autobiographies, do you think about famous people? Perhaps autobiographies of presidents, actors, or sports figures come to mind. Have you read an autobiography? Have you watched one on television, online, or in a movie theater recently? Do you think autobiographies are only created by famous people? Are they created only for money, art, or fame? These are reasons people write autobiographies, but it’s less likely your autobiography will earn you money or make you famous. This is not because of the value of your autobiography or its significance. It’s because your autobiography is far more valuable when you create it for yourself.
When you create your autobiography, you’re engaging in one of the most profound activities known in the entire physical universe: reflecting on your life. You may not know the true why of creating your autobiography until you’ve completed it. The journey of creating something of and by yourself can be wonderful, joyful, and exciting just as it could be horrifying, saddening, and even maddening. However, it is the story of your life. As such, if it is horrifying, you will have given yourself the opportunity to move from today’s here and now into a better future you. A you who is stronger for knowing who you were and are by having created your autobiography.
Is your why someone else’s gift? You may come to see your autobiography as a story needed by someone else who hasn’t yet created their autobiography. Someone you’ve never met and may never know. Your reason for creating your autobiography may be to gift a future somebody a better life than they had before they read or heard or watched your autobiography. Is this part of your story? Are you a person who seeks a better future for others?
What is your why? Do you want to settle some issues in your life that you haven’t had time to resolve? Do you want to have accounting of things so you can move forward? Do you want a record of your experiences because others have done you harm and you scream quietly every night into the void because you need a voice? Begin creating your autobiography in your here and now if only to see where it leads you.
What Will Your Verse Be?
One of the most important aspects of creating your autobiography is to help clarify in your mind what you personally value and admire in your own life. Your autobiography can be a vehicle to a better you. A you who sees a clear path forward toward your goal in life. Your message to the world. Your unique contributed verse to the story of life in the universe.