It is nearly 2019 and I would guess that for most of us, it is a hard fact to comprehend. We contemplate the past year, and although so much happened, it is the pace at which it transpired that makes us worry about the new year approaching and then suddenly being a memory. Finding a way to record the events of our lives from the onset of 2019 can give a boost of confidence that next December, we just may have a record of what life was like for us. What do you have in mind? Will you email an “update” each week to your family? Will you keep a journal? What about audio and video recordings? Will you use social media to validate and share the events of your life (be sure to make a copy!)? Then there is the whole idea of going back even further. What about documenting your personal history? Is 2019 the year you will actually do it?  For your posterity? If so, here is a FamilySearch project that just may be the key to making it happen: Define Your Dash – Start Writing Your Personal History With The #52 Stories Project

Your stories matter. You do know that, right? But finding the time, motivation, and inspiration to write them down isn’t so easy. Where do you start? What events should you include? What details should you leave out?

The #52stories project provides the inspiration you need to write down one story every week for a year, bringing you 52 steps closer to completing your personal history.

The idea is to write one brief story about your life every week this year. You can do this in a handwritten journal, in a document on your computer, or via a series of voice or video recordings. You can even select certain stories to share on your FamilySearch Family Tree profile, where they’ll be preserved for your posterity.

At the end of the year, you’ll have 52 notches in your personal history dash. That’s 52 opportunities to capture the story of your life—52 chances to shape your family’s intergenerational narrative.

Here is a tip for all those who may not be tech-savvy and who wish to audio or video record stories from your lives: ask for help from a teen – they usually know just how to handle technology and most of their parents would love them to be using it productively! If they need some pointers (or you do) explore the FamilySearch Memories App here, and find more information and instruction in The Family history Guide here. A helper could be one of your offspring, a grandchild, or a friend who has the know-how – or maybe ask them all to do a part of what you would like to document so they can share the fun! There are great questions in the #52 Stories Project and the above link even has printables! Hopefully, your helpers will all be excited to hear all your stories and all about your adventures. They will benefit more than they know (or could imagine) from what you have to say. One idea is to keep these stories shorter for this purpose – “consumable” and easy to post on FamilySearch for all to enjoy. Your helper most likely can upload photos for you, too.

So, let’s get started so that when December rolls (I mean screams) around – we can look back and say, we did it! Our posterity will be grateful and we will be glad!