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How to Write a Legacy Book
And why you need to
My wife threw me a surprise birthday party when I turned, uh, some arbitrary age. Along with the party, she got me a book. It was a “peace-of-mind planner,” or a place to put things for my family if I meet an early demise in a fiery crash or a tragic garbage disposal accident.
The gift was 25% tongue-in-cheek and 75% practical because, if anything, my wife is practical.
I’ve had this book a while now but haven’t been able to put anything into it. All the while, I’ve filled up a dozen other notebooks with thoughts, musings, memories, rants, and other banalities. So why is it so hard to document important things for the people who will need them the most?
Maybe because I’m scared of what my legacy is. Do I even have one? Has it formed yet? I’m not done evolving. I don’t want to put something in there that will only be null and void in a few years. There’s even a place in the back for personal wishes and last words. Whoa, what a loaded couple of pages that is! It’s too much pressure!
From our earliest experiences as babies and throughout our entire lives, we absorb things that shape us. Much of life is made up of forgettable moments in time and lost to the ether. Memories are fleeting, but ideas remain. Scientists call this “fade-to-gist,” meaning that we lose the…
