Surprise Ending?
Write Your Life Story for Posterity
The final chapter in the Decade-by-Decade method of writing your life story is Summary. This is a chance to blend all of the various components we wrote about each decade into a united whole.
Those thinking, “what else is there to say?” may be in for a surprise.
Experts believe that people pass through several stages during their lives:
A search for meaning around midlife.
An effort to free ourselves from earlier limits starting in our fifties.
A desire to give back through philanthropy and/or volunteering in our seventies and eighties.
In later years, an impulse to remain vital, a desire to go on even in the face of adversity.
The unexpected benefit of the Decade-by-Decade method is growing awareness — “aha moments” for instance — of how these stages apply to our lives.
From Childhood to Adulthood
By answering the same or very similar questions about each decade of our lives, we in effect mapped out our evolution from childhood to adulthood even though we may not have realized it at the time.
For each decade, we wrote about where we lived, the people we lived with, where we worked, our skills and abilities, the people we worked with, the people we spent the most time with, the places we visited most, the activities we enjoyed the most, the way we spent weekends, weekdays, and holidays, our health, our family, and our awareness of state, local and international affairs, to name a few.
A Map of Personal Evolution
At 10-year intervals, we also wrote about our feelings, beliefs, relationships, challenges, and activities. If we answered the questions in detail to the best of our ability, we in effect created a map of personal evolution.
People change over the course of their lives, often for the better. But such changes can be so gradual that they are barely noticeable.
Subtle changes accumulating each decade are often hidden under the surface until something brings them to our awareness, such as reviewing each decade in our later years. That’s when differences from one decade to the next may become apparent.
Our review may reveal subtle or drastic differences in some areas of our lives from decade to decade and continuity in other areas. For instance:
Our outlook changed, such as attitudes toward people, jobs, lifestyle, or social issues.
Our view of ourselves changed.
Our health or the health of close family members changed.
Our living situation changed.
Our opinions or interests changed.
Having reviewed the details of our lives in sequence, we are now in a better position to understand key moments that resulted in significant change. The decades for many of us will merge into a united whole.
Those who do the work are highly likely to be rewarded.
By Maureen Santini © Copyright 2017-2026. All Rights Reserved.
Maureen Santini, a former journalist, created a simple way for everyone to write their life story for posterity. Subscribe here or at maureensantini.substack.com/subscribe.