Life History Part VII - The Future

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This is the last of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history. Previous posts in this series: 

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This last part is about the perception of the future. Most people do have something that they are anticipating. It isn’t ‘history’ but it deserves a place in an individual’s life history. Use the prompts to start the conversation. 

  • Do you plan to retire?
  • What will you do after you retire?
  • How are financially?
  • What is your most significant goal for this year?
  • What is your most significant goal for the next 5 years?
  • What is our most significant goal for the next 10 years?
  • On a scale of 0 to 10 - 0 being roll with the flow and 10 being goal directed...where you are
  • Do you plan to live to 100?
  • What obligations do you have into the future?
  • What is your most active area of learning right now?
  • What 5 things are on your 'must do before I die' list
  • Do you have an 'end of life' plan? Who makes decisions for you if you are not able to
  • What if your vision for what it will be like when you are 90
  • When do you think you will stop driving?
  • Do you want to live in Tucson for the rest of your life?
  • How much traveling do you want to do....where do you want to go?
  • What if the area has extreme water shortages...would you move because of an environment stressor? 

Life History Part VI - The Present

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This is the 6th of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history. Previous posts in this series:

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This 6th in the series is about the present - this is the part of the life history that is not history yet but is the assessment of what is happening now. Use these questions as prompts to start developing this part of a life history.

  • What kind of car do you drive?
  • Do you do volunteer work?
  • What kind of charities do you donate to?
  • Do you dye your hair?
  • Do you collect anything?
  • What books have your read recently?
  • Do you actively support local politicians?
  • Who did you vote for in the last presidential election?
  • Do you have any health problems?
  • What do you do for exercise?
  • What sports do you participate in?
  • What sports do you enjoy watching?
  • Do you have any allergies?
  • Describe a recent decision you made...and how you arrived at your decision.
  • How healthy is your diet?
  • List 5 words that describe what you are.
  • Do you need a 'cave' and time to yourself?
  • Do you clean your own house/do your own laundry?
  • Have you gotten a speeding ticket or had a car accident in the last year?
  • Do you have pets?

The last part of the series will be about the future. It will be posted next week.

Life History Part V - Family and Friends

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This is the 5th of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history. Previous posts in this series:

Introduction and childhood

Favorites

Habits

Emotions

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This fifth in the series is about Family and Friends - these are the most important people in life. Use these prompts to develop a life history section about them. 

  • Tell me about your siblings.
  • Tell me about your mother.
  • Tell me about your father.
  • How did your relationship with your parents change over the years?
  • Tell me about our maternal grandparents.
  • Tell me about your paternal grandparents.
  • Tell me about our cousins.
  • Do you like young children?
  • What do people tend to always notice about you?
  • Tell me about your friends.
  • Tell me about your work colleagues.
  • How often do you host gatherings?
  • Where are gatherings you host or attend held?
  • How many people do you exchange gifts with (birthday/Christmas, etc.) and what kind of gifts do you give and receive?
  • Talk about the people that have known you your whole life.

Topics for the remaining parts of the series: the present, and the future. I’ll be posting them in the next two weeks.

Life History Part IV - Emotions

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This is the 4th of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history. Previous posts in this series: 

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This fourth in the series is about emotions. Emotions are the manifestation of feelings. Sometimes they are not entirely logical - but they give our lives dimension. Questions about emotions sometimes beg for a story to provide context. Here are some questions to start exploring the emotional side of a life history. 

  • What has been the happiest moment of your life to date?
  • What has been the saddest moment of your life to date?
  • What holidays do you celebrate?
  • How religious are you - what role does religion play in your life?
  • Do you attend church (regularly...occasionally...ever)?
  • What do you like most about your life right now?
  • What do you like the least (or dislike) about your life right now?
  • If you have to leave the house in a hurry - maybe not ever to return - what would you take with you?
  • What is your definition of success?
  • Give a couple of examples of things you enjoy doing with someone else.
  • How do I know I can trust you?
  • Are you an introvert or extrovert?
  • Describe the clothes you like the best.
  • Describe an emotionally charged event at work.
  • Describe an emotional charged event at home or with your family.
  • What makes you angry and what do you do when you are angry?
  • How often have you gotten angry in the past month?
  • Describe a conflict that did not work out as you had hoped.
  • What is your general approach to conflict?
  • How emotional are you generally - are you volatile or stoic? 

Topics for the upcoming parts of the series: family and friends, the present, and the future. I’ll be posting them about once a week.

Life History Part III - Habits

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This is the 3rd of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history.

Previous posts in this series: 

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This third in the series is about habits. Habits are regular patterns of behavior that may be almost automatic. They may change over the course of a lifetime so it may be worthwhile to think and talk about them in a time phased way (for example - if you are a morning person now…have you always been?). Some of these questions may have a short answer…some beg for elaboration and follow up questions. Enjoy the journey of discovery! 

  • Are you usually a morning or evening person?
  • When do you get up in the morning and what is your usual morning routine?
  • What kind of clothes do you wear to work?
  • What kind of clothes do you wear on the weekend?
  • What television shows do you enjoy?
  • What feeds do you look at regularly?
  • What occasions cause you to dress up?
  • When you get dressed up - what do you wear?
  • Are you usually on time - late - or early for appointments?
  • What is your biggest vice or guilty pleasure?
  • What is your biggest meal of the day?
  • What do you like to do while you eat?
  • Do you shower or take baths?
  • Do you get annual medical checkups and dental cleanings every 6 months?
  • Are your meals about the same time each day?
  • Do you take supplements/vitamins?
  • Do you take medications/drugs?
  • Do you have an 'evening' (before sleep) ritual?

Topics for the upcoming parts of the series: family and friends, the present and the future. I’ll be posting them about once a week.

Life History Part II - Favorites

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This is the 2nd of 7 posts with prompts to develop a life history. The first one (and intro) can be found here.

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The second series is about favorites. Some on this list are probably more important to you or have a more dominate favorite…or there may be whole categories of favorites to add. The idea is to capture an individual’s preferences. Maybe some of those preferences have changed over time and that is worth a conversation rather than the short answer. Or maybe there really is not a favorite (i.e. if you choose a different flavor of ice cream every time you buy some…maybe you simply like almost all flavors of ice cream!).

Here is my starter list for ‘favorites’: 

  1. Animal
  2. ColorColor
  3. Food
  4. Nut
  5. Ice cream flavor
  6. Flower
  7. Kind of vacation
  8. Vacation destinationVacation destination
  9. Jewelry
  10. What do you most enjoy doing outdoors
  11. Tree
  12. Car
  13. Thing to do when you have time
  14. Home architectural styles
  15. Furniture
  16. Stores
  17. Restaurants
  18. Kind of music/performer
  19. Movie
  20. Book
  21. Friend

Topics for the upcoming parts of the series: habits, family and friends, the present and the future. I’ll be posting them about once a week.

Prompts for Developing a Life History - Part I

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Today I am starting a series of 7 posts that will include questions that can be used as prompts to develop a life history. They could be used as:

 

  • A personal assessment of your own life (i.e. your own life history)
  • A structure for initial conversations with someone else to get to know them (i.e. you each answer the question…and discuss further if needed)
  • Interview questions for someone you know fairly well but have gaps in what your know about them (i.e. like a grandparent or parent or a grandchild that has always lived far away

 

You don’t have to use every question and you may think of others you would like to ask as you go through these. Writing or recording the answers will result in a rudimentary life history. Consider embedding pictures of items the supplement the narrative. Eventually you'll want to get it into a form you can easily edit - like a word processor - but you can start out with a tablet/blank book and pen. Sometimes ordinary things can have a lot of meaning (for example - a raggedy baby's blanket that is part of a 'first memory').

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The first series of questions is about your childhood through the completion of your education.

  1. Where and when were you born?
  2. What was your favorite activity as a child?
  3. What is your earliest memory?
  4. Who taught you your numbers and letters?
  5. How much did you know before you went to school? Could you write your name, etc.?
  6. What was your favorite subject in elementary school?
  7. Who helped you with your homework in elementary school?
  8. What was your elementary school classroom/school building like?
  9. What was the most memorable event of elementary school?
  10. Did you play a musical instrument? Do you still play?
  11. What kind of ‘trouble’ did you have as a teenager?
  12. What do you remember the most about high school?
  13. What was your hardest class in high school?
  14. Did you participate in sports in high school? Do you still play?
  15. What extracurricular activities did you participate in during high school and college?
  16. Did you have a job while you were in high school? If so - what did you do?
  17. Do you have friends from high school you still keep in touch with?
  18. Did you go to college?
    • Where?
    • What do you remember the most about college?
    • What was the hardest class for you  in college?
    • How was your college paid for?
    • What did you major in?
    • Did you have a job while you were in college? If so - what did you do?
    • In retrospect, to what extent did you use your college education in your work?
    • Do you have friends from college you still keep in touch with?
  19. What was your first car?
  20. Did you ever travel by yourself prior to college? If so - where, how, when?
  21. Did your family take vacations? If so - where did you go/what did you do?

Later parts to this series will focus on favorites, habits, family and friends, the present and the future. The segments will come out about once a week.