Life History Questions and Answers

52 Questions in 52 Weeks: Writing about Your Life Has Never Been Easier

September 28, 2015 By Steve Anderson

Few people would argue the value of creating a story about a life lived. In fact, it’s really quite a noble idea to create your life’s story. From it, your descendants will likely learn something valuable and endearing from things you experienced and will get to know you as an individual.

Many people believe that it takes a huge amount of time to write their history and feel that the task is just too big. Because of that, they never start. But sharing memories of your life does not have to be a big, involved effort. Imagine for a moment, how much easier the task of writing about your life might be if you were to focus on writing about just one topic each week. It doesn’t matter if you write a few paragraphs, a single page, or several pages. The important thing is that you write something. Anything is better than nothing at all.

Now imagine if someone provided you with one question to write about each week for 52 weeks. At the end of just one year you will have created your own life story to share with your children and your future posterity. You will never be forgotten because your own life story will exist. Add some pictures, and you can make it even more inviting to read.

Below are 52 questions. Each week for one year, take one question and write as much or as little as you want. Don’t worry about how much you write for each question, but do write something. Questions do not need to be answered in any special order. At the end of the list are a few extra questions in case there are some that don’t apply to your life.

When you are done, go to FamilySearch.org, and add your stories to your family tree. By adding your stories to your private branch of Family Tree, you ensure that they will be safe and secure for future generations. Your great-grandchildren will be able to find them and enjoy reading about your life and getting to know who you are.

Good luck, and enjoy your new writing adventure. Future generations will be glad that you took the time to write something about your life and that you left them with such a valuable legacy.

1. What is your full name? Why did your parents give you that name?
2. When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood, and the town you grew up in.
3. Tell me about your father (his name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on). Share some memories you have of your father.
4. Tell me about your mother (her name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on). Share some memories you have of your mother.
5. What kind of work did your parents do (farmer, salesman, manager, seamstress, nurse, stay-at-home mom, professional, laborer, and so on)?
6. Have any of your family members died? If so, what did they die from? What do you remember of their death, and what were the circumstances of their death?
7. What kind of hardships or tragedies did your family experience while you were growing up?
8. Are there any unusual genetic traits that run in your family line?
9. What are the names of your brothers and sisters? Describe things that stand out in your mind about each of your siblings.
10. What were some of the family traditions that you remember?
11. Did your family have special ways of celebrating specific holidays?
12. Share a few memories of your grandparents.
13. Did your grandparents live close by? If so, how much were they involved in your life? If they lived far away did you ever travel to visit them? What was that like?
14. Who were your aunts and uncles? Do you have any aunts or uncles who really stand out in your mind? Write something about them (names, personalities, events that you remember doing with them, and so on).
15. Where did you go to school? What was school like for you?
16. What were your favorite subjects in school? Why?
17. What subjects did you like the least? Why?
18. Who were some of your friends in school? What were they like? What are they doing today?
19. If you went on to get a college or vocational education, what school did you go to? What did you study? What memories do you have of those years?
20. What do you see as your strengths?
21. What were some of the challenges you have had to deal with?
22. What medical issues have you had to deal with throughout your life?
23. Was religion an important part of your family life? If so, what religion did your family practice, and what did it mean to you? Is it still an important part of your life today? If religion was not a part of your life, why wasn’t it?
24. What foods do you like? What foods do you dislike? Did you have any food or medical allergies?
25. Were there two or three dishes your mother or father made that were especially memorable?
26. How did you meet your spouse?
27. How would you describe your spouse?
28. What was your courtship like? Describe your marriage day.
29. Share some stories about your spouse.
30. How many children do you have? What are their names? Share a few memories about each one.
31. What were some of the major community, national, and world events you lived through?
32. How did these events change your life?
33. What are some of your life philosophies or life views that you would share with others?
34. What are some of the personal values that are very important to you? What have you done (and what are you doing now) to teach these values to your children?
35. List at least five people who you would categorize as truly great men or women. What did they do to be great?
36. List 20 or more things about yourself.
37. List 20 things or more that you think the world would be so much better off without.
38. List 20 interesting things you’ve experienced in your lifetime.
39. If you could spend a day with any famous person in the world, who would it be, and what would you do during your day with him or her?
40. What scares you?
41. What makes you stop and go, “Wow!”?
42. What are some of the things you enjoy doing in your leisure time?
43. What kind of health challenges have you experienced?
44. What advice would you pass on about raising children that you learned by raising your own children?
45. What are some of your talents? How did you discover them? What have you done to cultivate and improve them? How have they affected your life?
46. What did you do for a career? Why did you choose that career?
47. What were some of the jobs you had throughout your life? What were some of the memorable experiences you had with these jobs?
48. List five significant events or experiences in your life, and explain what effects they have had on you.
49. What are some of the life lessons that you would like to pass on to your posterity?
50. In how many places have you lived during your lifetime? Provide a brief description of each place you’ve lived, why you lived there, and why you moved.
51. If you could go back in time and do things over again, what would you change?
52. When all is said and done, what do you want to be remembered for? What would you like your legacy to be? What are you doing now to make that happen?

Extra Questions

1. If a newspaper wanted to do a story about you, what would the story be about?
2. If someone gave you $100 and told you that you had to give it away but you could NOT give it to your family, what would you do with it?
3. Have you traveled to any place outside of your home country? What was the reason for the trip or trips and what memorable things happened on some of those trips?
4. What were some of the popular fads you experienced during your life?
5. How did you spend your summers?
6. What were some of your more memorable vacations?
7. How would you describe your personality?
8. Describe your philosophy about money.
9. Did you ever have pets? Tell about them.

Introduction

Introduction

This blog is a serious attempt to create something of everlasting value to my children and my grandchildren and so on down the generations as they come to pass.  I have been known to speak out, informed or uninformed, listener beware, about and on many varied topics and occasionally with some eccentric points of view.

Setting that aside for now as another separate piece of work it is important for each of you to know and understand that I am in fact full of faith and commitment to obtaining all of the promised blessings of the covenants I have entered into with God the Father and His son Jesus Christ.

If you read in the book of Mormon in the 1st chapter of Jacob you will find something of which I am speaking when Jacob is instructed of what types of things to record on the small plates which his older brother Nephi had entrusted to him (Jacob 1:2-4).  Therefore, this record that it might fulfill my most important responsibility to you as your Father, your Grandfather, and so on.

After many attempts to arrive at the best forum and medium for conveying the most precious and valuable thoughts and feelings of my heart and soul.  I have concluded that this blog might just be the place to compile and memorialize such things for the benefit of my personal posterity.  I would like to direct your individual and collective desires and actions to follow the path that will bless your life now and through the eternity to come.

Remember this from Matthew 22:

34 ¶But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Regarding the first.

Trying the best I could and not doing so perfectly I want you to know that while I do love God with all of my heart, my heart seems to have many, many facets with edges that have needed to be smoothed out over my life's experiences.  These facets and my heart will and can only become perfect through the atonement of Christ and my repentent efforts to improve and change, sometimes one facet at a time, sometimes this comes only when the spirit really helps me recognize the need and helps me achieve the true desire to improve.

When one attempts to change their heart I have heard and I have learned that it is true both physically, as in the case of a heart transplant, and spiritually, as in the case of myself and most of us,  that when we attempt to change our heart, maybe call it repent, there is a natural force of rejection that begins to take place.  Physically, there are drugs and medicine to assist with this.   Spiritually, there is faith and perserverance and the strength that God bless us with as we continue to try.   Always continue to try!  Never give up on repenting of what you need to, please! 

Regarding the second.

Only when I became more aware of the unconditional love of God and Christ for me did I become able to love myself as a divine son of God.  This is a challenge as well because I had to accept my imperfections and weaknesses along with the true knowledge and belief that again Christ could help me become clean and pure and unspotted from the trials and tribulations of this world.

Then, knowing this I have tried as best I could to love others as I love myself.  I regard others, all others, as equally important and valuable in the sight of God and worthy of my efforts to love and serve them whenever and wherever I find myself able to do so.  And, when I find myself moved upon by the Spirit to recognize and understand the promptings to do so.

This has taken shape primarily and principally in the form of love and service to my dear companion Melanie, our children, our grandchildren, then our extended families, then our friends and those we associate with at work, church, etc. and finally to love and serve those that God simply puts in my path day by day.

Now then, proceeding on, I have no other desire nor ambition in mind other than to reunite with all of you at the proper time in such a state of proper preparation, obedience, and performance as to truly be worthy of the infinite atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and a glorious celestial resurrection.  

This way we might obtain and enjoy the covenant blessings we have been promised that we might be blessed together with our family relationships intact and together returning to our Heavenly Father's presence to be blessed with exaltation and eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:7).

May God bless you as you read these things with a witness of the spirit by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:5) that you might be true to the faith that our parents have cherished and true to the faith for which martyrs have perished.  Be true to this faith that in my weakness I have tried to uphold and turn into marvelous and glorious hope for joy and happiness.

This work will now commence with a direct reference to my faith as my reflection, testimony, and commentary on the 'Articles of Faith' of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I memorized them as a child, then lost the word for word only remembering the concepts.   Later on I've come to use an acronym to assist me in my recollection of which one was which and then on our mission to South Africa, Melanie and I recited them every third day to each other, a pattern we shall continue as long as we are coherent and together!

Here's the Acronym:  GTAP HOGB RTWK 13

Here's the interpretation set in key words:

1. Godhead
2. Transgressions
3. Atonement
4. Principles
5. Hands
6. Organization
7. Gifts
8. Bible
9. Revelation
10. Ten Tribes
11. Worship
12. Kings
13. 13, the long one.

Here's the Acronym in my silly talk way of remembering:

1. GTAP - Gitty up
2. HOGB - Hog back
3. RTWK - Return to work
4. 13 - the long one at the end