Leaving your family an account of your life story holds just as much value as thinking through a proper estate plan. Well, how do you want to be remembered after your passing? What do you want to leave on this earth?
Moreover, what family history and lessons do you want to outlive your existence? As we advance in age, such questions become increasingly more important and urgent. After all, each and every one of us has a shelf life.
Providing a legacy to your heirs might hold more value than leaving material goods, like funds in a retirement account, real estate, or even possessions. It’s all about the life you lived, who you are, and your family history.
Research has shown time and time again that sharing family stories and history is great for mental health, especially for teenagers. Another recent study discovered that adults over 60 benefit from life story projects.
The entire meaning of a legacy nowadays revolves around gifts, money, or any other personal property that’s generally granted in a will. But anything substantial if it holds value, even a letter of advice. Such things can deeply impact the generations that outlive you.
Think of it as the ripple effect after you toss a rock into a pond. How far or how long the rippling motion lasts depends on many things, but most importantly, on how big an impact you make while you’re still alive.
How can you leave your life story as a legacy?
Leaving a lasting legacy takes quite some time and effort. You need a proper plan to make sure that what you leave behind lives on from one generation to the next. It doesn’t have to cost you a lot, but digital or professional services could make the process much easier. Here are some of the most important resources that will help you start your journey.
StoryCorps
StoryCorps occupies the top spot as the single largest collection of human voices ever caught. The platform efficiently collects and records a series of meaningful conversations about one’s life, which are later saved in the United States Library of Congress and broadcast on a weekly basis on NPR to over 12 million listeners.
By far one of the best things about a StoryCorps submission is the fact that you leave a legacy in your voice, rather than simply a print. The downside is that you can’t really add photographs. It also won’t cost you anything, but you might have to leave a donation.
Kindred Tales
Kindred Tales is a great one-year subscription service that helps capture your most beloved memories and life stories. The service will efficiently send your weekly writing prompts. One beautiful feature is the speech-to-text dictation, so you also have the option of telling your story orally. The finished product is also a professionally bound hardcover book. The cost of it varies in between $90 and $119.
Story worth
Once a week, Storyworth sends only one question that inspires you to write. After you have efficiently written your story or even a part of it based on the question, you instantly email it back. Your submissions are then bound together in a keepsake book. The cost is quite small, between $89 and $99.
Modern Heirloom Books
For a proper Cadillac experience, Modern Heirloom Books will instantly pair you with a personal historian. At first, you might meet online, but they will eventually travel to you upon request. You will then have a series of in-person interviews and be asked to provide a series of old photos, which are then carefully curated into a “graphically and narratively evocative” book.
The cost of a life story project depends, but as a general rule, it starts at $7,000, while tribute books start at $1,250. The One-Hour Heirloom also provides a nice taste of the entire process and a miniature bespoke book for only $1,500.
Ethical Wills: putting your values on paper
An ethical will is generally written to convey your history, values, as well as wisdom to your descendants. For additional instructions on how to properly write an ethical will, you should check out the book “Ethical Wills: Putting Your Values On Paper” by Barry K. Baines.
Along with this book, you will also find an accompanying resource guide that will show you a practical way to articulate values and beliefs, as well as life lessons. The cost is quite small, ranging from $10.99 to $19.99.
Ancestry story maker and family history book
If you already have an Ancestry.com account, you probably want to explore a couple of tools they have already developed to preserve their stories and photographs. The whole advantage of creating your story in the app is that you can efficiently link to the stories of other family members, even if they died, as long as they are in your family tree.
The amazing Storymaker tool also includes cropping, colonizing, and other image functions, and naturally, tons of space to write your own story. You can easily design a print book of your album on the app as some sort of “family history book,” which will be produced in partnership with MyCanvas.
“For you when I am gone: twelve essential questions to tell a life story”
Rabbi Steve Leder’s book called “For You When I Am Gone” provides questions and prompts to stimulate deep reflection as you try to compose your legacy letter.
Naturally, it can also include joy and regrets, and ultimately, why not, it can become both a way to remember a loved one who is gone, as well as a primer on how to live a better, happier life to pass along to future generations. The cost is $15.20 for a hardback book.
MyStoriesMatter Blog
Just like Kindred and Storyworth, MyStoriesMatter provides a series of tools for recording your story orally or writing it down, collecting photographs, and printing a book solely on your life story. This service also offers a series of concierge interviews and ghostwriting options. The cost of it is $149 and up.
Why you should consider hiring a personal historian
Writing your life story can be quite daunting. Where do you start, after all? You could even ask yourself if anyone truly cares about your life story. Telling your own life story to a personal historian, a neutral outsider trained to efficiently listen and ask all the right questions, often elicits a much fuller, and revealing story than you could otherwise write on your own.
Trust me, your story does matter. Personal historians can definitely help you draw out all the needed details of your life and even recall important events that are quite meaningful to you and other future generations.
They can also interview friends, family, as well as colleagues to elicit a much fuller and richer picture of your life. Some personal historians could also specialize in preserving and organizing old photographs, letters, diaries, as well as related memorabilia to include in the story. You should, however, be aware that prices for historians might vary a bit depending on the depth of your story.
The Association of Personal Historians (APH) is definitely a wonderful place to begin your search. You can contact your local non-profit, historical societies, and even religious groups if you want to seek a more informal or even free arrangement.
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