Portrait of mature woman, laughing, indoors

The Benefits of Documenting Your Life Story

According to Debbie Bitticks, there are 101 reasons to document your life story. These include: remembering the challenges and triumphs that you faced on your life journey; an opportunity to analyze your past while gaining insight about who you are today; understand how your experiences have influenced the path you chose in life; become aware of ambitions or dreams that you have not yet realized… The list goes on. Debbie should know. She is the creator of Cherished Memories, a 96-page Guide for documenting your life story or that of a loved one. Now, she can add a one hundred and second reason for documenting your life story – it’s good for your health.

A recent article by Matthew Solan, Executive Editor of Harvard’s Men’s Health Watch, shed light on this. From the article: “The actual writing aspect also can be a therapeutic tool as you explore issues that may still trouble you. A study published in the March 2018 JAMA Psychiatry found that writing about a specific upsetting memory was just as effective as traditional cognitive processing therapy in treating adults with post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Listen to our segment on Charlotte Today.