Clear the fog, go for a bit of exercise, make a tea or coffee and let’s start sorting out those random thoughts. Remember, you’re not writing a story, at least not a fictional one. Your story is real, it’s about your life so maybe start at the beginning. What are your earliest memories? What was important enough back then to share with someone? Personally, I remember sitting in a galvanized bathtub in the middle of the dining room back on the farm. We didn’t have a real bathtub back then, my dad put that in later. Did my parents take baths in the same tub? I’ll never know. But that one memory leads to many others.
Your earliest memories may not be good or happy ones, keep that in mind. Those memories, however painful, combine with the others to make you who you are. Start early then move on. I expect that once you get the ball rolling, it will gather speed and size, triggering more memories as you go. Jot them down, no matter how scrambled they are. Even a word at this point is important.
Here are some things that I remember and write about:
School, both the building itself and the teachers.
Food. What my mother cooked for us, how she did it (in a very small propane range) as well as what we ate on special occasions.
Our house. My kids find my memories of the farmhouse quite interesting. Believe me, it’s very far removed from what the house they grew up in is like. It was very old, very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. But my memories of it are fond memories, for the most part.
Relatives and friends. Did your grandparents live with you? What were they like?
Travel/vacations – Did you take a train trip? When did you first fly in an airplane? What cars did your family own? What was your first car?
These are just tips, my suggestions that might help you on your journey to document your own life. By the way, and I’ll mention this again at some point, this kind of exercise is great for your brain. It keeps it active as it sorts things out for you. Going back in time can also help you put some things into perspective. Was that incident really as bad as you remember or was it just because you were so young and didn’t understand? Memories can give you insight into your past, revealing other points of view, allowing you to examine issues from all sides.
TIP: If you’re working with someone who has dementia, perhaps Alzheimer’s or similar, keep in mind that their old memories have been moved to a safe part of their brain, away from the area that is affected by their affliction. While they probably don’t remember yesterday, they almost certainly remember their schooldays or what their parents were like. If you work with them, you will be surprised at just how much they actually do remember.