Let us start writing for a legacy
Writing is not a random, isolated activity, but a process that connects the past, the present, and the future together. It is an activity that covers ages and ages.
Writing is the process of imagining new realities, adding our perceptions to the created reality and launching it to the actual life. It is about asking more people to join and become a part of our experience. It is about sharing stories from the past and marveling at how stories repeat themselves to prove we all are the same.
What we write today can be read tomorrow and years later, just like how we still read about the lives and imaginations of all the people who dared to write, share, and leave a part of themselves for others.
Writing is the literary equivalent of building a museum — preserving our thoughts and ideas for more people to read and understand them. It is immortality for ‘who’ we are, even when the ‘what’ of us leaves the world.
Isn’t this immeasurably beautiful? To be alive when our physical self doesn’t exist.
Writing is a way to create and leave our legacy
A materially inexpensive legacy. Yet, not many of us consider it. Each one of us can leave a legacy with our writing by overcoming a few self-imposed limitations and underestimation of our ability to write.
So, let us get started with at least thinking of creating a legacy with writing by addressing these limitations.
Firstly, what is writing for legacy again?
It is writing to leave a piece of ourselves for the generations to come to read. We can record our learning, inspirations, values, and ideas for the next generation to read and possibly learn something about ourselves or maybe some tips on living or anything under the sun that we choose to share.
What all can qualify for legacy writing?
Memoirs, journals, letters — typically. But anything we write can become our legacy, since we are freezing our thought process and ideas — a part of us at the time of writing. Other ideas include blogging, a Google Docs, an Instagram account documenting our life with captions, recording our thoughts on various world happenings, and more.
“I don’t get it, why should I write to leave my legacy?”
Do you like sharing your food with loved ones?
I should have think of a better example, I suppose. So, here are more examples.
Don’t you like to share good news with people? Or a feeling that you have kept hidden in your heart for very long? Don’t you take out your phone and message your friends and loved ones to share a picture you took? And don’t you like when your loved ones share their stories, thoughts, and values with you?
We all like sharing. We are social beings and we share because we care. By writing for legacy, we are just sharing ourselves with more people whom we might not even meet. It is a way to show we love them in our unique way and share something that can either educate, entertain, or inspire them. It is being human and valuable to others forever.
Now my second argument, don’t you like it when you find something that your grandparents used? Won’t you think of it and try to find why they used it? Won’t you try to find the story behind it?
We all like being connected to a story even when it is from ages ago. Why not give that feeling to more people?
“But I can’t write…”
Don’t you write emails, assignments, letters, text messages? That is also writing. You anyway are writing, not novels (for now possibly), but you are writing! So, you can write creatively too with practice. Like any skill, you can become better at it. Maybe not like Ernest Hemmingway or Jane Austen (who knows!), but you can be your own better writer version, which by the way is a win.
In fact, associating writing with the bigger purpose of a legacy will make writing more enjoyable (I didn’t say easy, writing isn’t easy. But it makes up for not being easy by giving us the gift of expression).
“But isn’t writing with the intention to leave a legacy scary when we are struggling to even write?”
Yes, it can be scary. More so when we are struggling to even accept that our writing is good, that we can articulate our thoughts well. That is why we need to develop the writer’s mindset, practice, and improve our writing. It is definitely scary, writing is disorienting many times (even though it brings a lot of clarity once done). But isn’t doing it the only way to become better at something that we are scared of?
We can think of our future generations as our audience and write our stories for them. Doing so is a sure shot way of getting better at writing.
“But isn’t writing with the end goal wrong?”
Depends. How much we let the end goal influence our expression.
Are we painting ourselves in a more positive light than we deserve? Are we sharing the incomplete truth (not sharing a few truth is fine, but hiding a part of the reality to forward a narrative is not)? Are we always nervous while writing for legacy as this is for our future generations?
All these are negative influences. Instead, once we make up our minds to write, we must selectively ignore any negative influences of that decision. We must just write and see how we express our own reality and truths.
The whole purpose of legacy writing is to live, write, and express. With a little prudence and bravery to live life and write unfettered, we can prevent the end goal from turning us into scared or constricted people.
Any example of legacy writing?
One of the best examples that I can think of is the book — The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He started that book and recorded a lecture when he was diagnosed with a terminal disease because he wanted to leave behind a legacy, something his children can have from their dad.
“Isn’t it narcissistic?”
No, as long as we write for others, not to share how great we are. We don’t want them to bound their lives to us, but go and live their lives in their own way, because we did the same. It made us happy and we learned a few things. Why not share it?
Remember, when we start writing for legacy, we are inviting all the people we know and don’t know from now and the future to be a part of our life journey. That is a grand life to live. Not everything grand is narcissistic.
“What if it doesn’t get read?”
No problem. Didn’t we live our lives anyway, by figuring it out each day? The next generation will too. We are just doing our part of sharing, reading it or not is the next generation’s headache. I mean, decision.
“So, you say it will make me a better writer too?”
When we want to record our lives, we will become more observant and get answers to questions and find patterns. When we look for something, we are more likely to get it — and who isn’t looking for the answers to life’s questions.
Writing starts with observation and thinking. We will do both when we write for our legacy.
Here is a beautiful example of a legacy: a letter left by a grandparent for his grandson.
We can either plan our legacy through writing or not. But, we should seriously consider sharing and recording our stories somewhere accessible. Because everything we do is a legacy, but writing is the most thoughtful of all (or maybe I am biased).
This blog is my legacy. What is yours?
Start creating your legacy through writing with a writing community. Join The Folded Paper, Writing Community by writing to us on Instagram.
