Let me encourage you to pass it on – pass it all on.

By that, I mean, that you should share your life experience.

Document your life! Share your ideas. Share your struggles. Share what you watch. Share where you travel. Or, like I do, share what you read.

I’ll give you three reasons why this is a good idea.

First, your story is worth telling. You are unique and wonderful and perfect. And – don’t doubt me here – told well, anyone can be interesting.

Second, in whatever you are doing, publicly sharing your thoughts will help you stand out. Plainly: It is easier to be chosen as a software developer, pastor, salesman, marketing director, architect, or whatever if you have a large platform.

And finally, even if nobody else cares, your kids would care. Your grandkids will care. In fact, you know the book I want to read the most? The daily diary of my parents. I’d love it if my grandparent’s had a journal or diary too. The thoughts of my grandfather in World War 2 would be a treasure.

Go document your life!

Start a blog. Take pictures. Write. Start a YouTube Channel.

Even if you document privately, just start.

I just now discovered the most extraordinary essay, a treatise on making a snowman. “… By all means use what is ready to hand. In a fuel-oil burning area, for instance, it is inconceivable that fathers should sacrifice their days hunting downtown for lumps of coal for their children’s snowmen’s eyes. Charcoal briquettes from the barbecue are an unwieldy substitute, and fuel oil itself is of course out of the question. Use pieces of rock, brick, or dark sticks; use bits of tire tread or even dark fallen leaves rolled tightly, cigarwise, and deeply inserted into sockets formed by a finger.” Why, why in the blue-green world write this sort of thing? Funny written culture, I guess; we pass things on.

-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim At Tinker Creek

Let me encourage you to document your life.

The easiest way – I think – is to to put it down in writing.

I mean, what do you think I am doing in some capacity right now?

But here is a tip: Don’t die on the sword of perfection.

You don’t have to be Hemingway. And a typo is not going to hurt anyone.
Let your writing be a little dry here and there if need be.

Your kids and grand-kids won’t care about any of that, and that’s kind of the point.

And who said you had to do it a certain way, in a certain paragraph format.

What if you made a list, drew a picture, or write a poem?

Writing also happens to be such a good exercise in clarifying your thoughts…

Since such a repetition is not to be expected, the next thing most like living one’s life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing.

-Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin