How Do You Archive Your Life?

How Do You Archive Your Life?

Handwritten notebook entries, scrapbook pages, running lists in a computer file, hard drives full of pictures — all are ways to record, remember and even tally your experiences. Do you have a system of archiving your life? Why do you think people keep track of things and places, and hold on to objects like ticket stubs to concerts and plays?

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Responses

  1. I suppose people hold on to bits and bobs for reminders of places visited and things enjoyed……..I personally do not archive my life at all………cannot really see the point………but I have a friend who has kept a diary for many years, she even used to log the outfits she wore so that she wouldn’t wear the same one the following week at the local quiz game…..so there you go….xx

    1. Star, when you get to the point that you feel the need to keep track of your outfits so as not to repeat them, you may have gone a step to far. Haaa.

      I used to keep diaries at various points in my life and invariably someone would find and read them. So it left me paranoid about that route.

      Now I mainly have an archive of the past decade living here in Ireland via my online photo albums. And they are pretty well representational of the events and places during this period of my life.

  2. I guess people like to recall the moments in their lives Gael… as for me i have several files of Genealogy research , filed in folders hard copy as well as on my computer files, Births Death and marriage certificates, going back 5 generations from overseas, i consider an important heritage for my family…
    Apart from that i diarise most important events for future reference by my family , mostly becasue all my family passed away at a young age and i feel my children need to know they did have nannas papas uncles and aunts before they were born , who they were, where they came from , death certificates and marriage certificates and their achievements, plus photos going back the three generations we have been in Australia and the countries they were born in….

    Also I keep and have kept a “Happiness” journal which i have written in for quite a few years now, each day is dated and in them is written one joyfull moment each day that I have experienced…. this is a legacy of the happy moments in my life that ,after i am no longer here will give them an insight into the joyous moments in my life and will assist in the grieving process, gifting them with some lovely and funny moments to read about ….

    1. I would say you’ve done an exceptionally thorough job of archiving your life, Lani. Not many will go to that extent.

      I’m sure your goal of leaving behind enough of a record for your succeeding generations will be achieved.

  3. Wow. Lani, you do a perfect job of archiving. I may start keeping a happiness journal. I have not had time or taken time to archive. I keep saying that I will sort out the pictures but I haven’t.

    1. do so Star, becasue on your own down day’s and everyone has some now and again , you can leaf through your happiness or gratitude journal , whatever you wish to call it , and have some laughs by scollin gthrough them yourself , it’s amazing some of the funny things you see that you have written in the past and it really lifts your spirits…xx

  4. I have been working on my family genealogy and am trying to find information on my Mother’s real parents as she was adopted in 1912 in Philadelphia, Pa. I have a lot of information on my father’s family and quite a lot of my husband’s family. I hope my children will appreciate what I have documented on the family tree’s. My friend Shirley gave me a 15 Generation Pedigree Chart and filled it all in for me for my birthday 2 years ago. Since then I have been adding to my Ancestry family tree online in Ancestry.

    1. Best of luck with your search, Annemarie. Some people don’t understand the need for ancestral information but I believe we are connected to our ancestors on a very deep level. We should know where we came from to understand where we’re going to/or went to and why.

  5. Paper and pen girl here…….diaries kept forever and dare I even say it use a fountain pen. When you re read them you realize how much you have forgotten and if i find that the days look a bit uninteresting I go and find something different to do.
    Saddo a’rent I?

    1. Not in the least, Gypsy. You’ve recorded what has had meaning for you in your life. And with a pen no less, even more personal when we consider the mechanics that have come to enter into all of it in today’s world.

  6. Gael,

    No diaries or notes for me just my memory which still works thank god. I have passed on much of these to my son, daughter, nephews and nieces. My mother has done the same so our family history is kept in the old fashioned way of word of mouth. Back in the world of the living thanks Gael