We often wander through life and question where we belong. Sometimes we meander because we don’t have a definite idea of self. Connect with who you are through your family history.
A strong sense of who you are can be traced to your family roots. Many people don’t know about their extended family. They are acquainted with parents, maybe grandparents, and siblings. Beyond that, it is a toss-up at best, a mystery waiting to be solved.
Learn about your family through the stories they share. You probably have a few of your own. Write them down if you have to so that you remember them later on. Ask your immediate family to share their fondest memories of family occasions. Those memories do not have to be huge events such as marriages, deaths or vacations. They could be as simple as a trip to the store, a picnic, or a church service just to name a few.
Telling stories is a way to connect with family members that you hardly know. Maybe you can get to the bottom of that feud between Cousin Connie and Aunt Jane. They might not even know why they are still fighting. Create a new relationship through the memories you’ll discover.
Family stories can lead to important findings too. A story or a firsthand account of an event may have made the history books. Maybe a family member was present in Europe when the Berlin Wall came down. What if a family member marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.? They may even have invented something we use today. You never know what you might find that ties your family to important times gone by.
Through the years, your family may have retained a philosophy passed down by one of your ancestors. If they went to war, maybe what they saw inspired them to raise their kids not to fight or to be a military family. Such sentiments run through a family and shape it to be what you see today. You might not have known why before but as you learn about your family’s past, you will find out.
Family history inspires pride many people lack. Maybe you think that your family hasn’t amounted to much because they are not rich or lack possessions such as their own home. Family research can teach you that there is more to a life than money. Listen to the advice of your elders who have a lot of life experience to share with you and others of younger generations.
Each of us has a legacy to leave the ones who come after us. Sharing family facts through stories or a written history opens a window into the life of the people who made it possible for us to be here in the first place.
Make it a family tradition. Begin sharing your own stories, along with those you’ve discovered in your search for information, with children, siblings, and other relatives. As you start passing along your stories, you’ll feel better about where you came from and you’ll help those younger than you to do the same in the future.
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The comments are closed on your previous post, but I must say. Though I agree with the fact that many should not consider these sources are absolute facts, blogs and personal websites can be very useful in breaking down a brick wall. Though not all, many of us do site our sources when we post information about an ancestor. I’ve started a regualer Monday post called Madenss Monday. I have prompted other posters to post the information they have, siting the source or where they found it so that others may help them. This has worked great. Some of the blogs site that it is family lore. In which case you know there is more proof needed, but others have factual sources to back up their findings. It’s just something to consider that blogs can be useful, though not to be seen as fact.