A<\/span>s life as we know it has come to a screeching halt, and we have been left with a quiet that we may have never felt over the course of our lifetime. Reflection and self-contemplation are inevitable in this time of social distancing, but this is also a fantastic opportunity for creativity to thrive.<\/p>\n As millions of us are stuck at home, this time comes as an opportunity to dial back and tune in to one of the most cathartic creative outlets: writing.<\/p>\n We are presented with a unique opportunity to reflect on what matters and how we should spend our time. It frees us up to pursue projects that we might not have had the opportunity for otherwise, opening up time for us to truly appreciate the little things and enabling us to draw inspiration from simple interactions and moments shared.<\/p>\n According to writer Joseph Epstein, 81% of Americans believe that they have a book in them they want to write but don\u2019t know the best way to go about it.<\/p>\n One of the most powerful inspirations for storytelling is nostalgia, which goes hand-in-hand with the self-reflection that millions will be feeling during self-isolation. Nostalgia is a peculiar concept. For instance, when you\u2019re happy, you can simply be happy. But when you\u2019re nostalgic, it involves the cognitive process of remembering, which also has emotions attached to it.<\/p>\n Although nostalgia tends to focus on the past, that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ll get stuck there when reflecting on bygone days. In fact, nostalgia can remind us that there\u2019s good in the world as it helps us look toward the future.<\/p>\n I began personal biography-writing service StoryTerrace to help individuals document their life stories from beginning to end. Right now, we have an opportunity unlike any other to dig into the power of reminiscing and nostalgia.<\/p>\n According to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, retrospective nostalgia can help people who deal with a fear of mortality. By making individuals feel as though their lives are meaningful and valuable, nostalgia can remind us all that it\u2019s possible to overcome hardships and can also give our lives purpose.<\/p>\n As this period of social distancing pushes us to look inward at our own trials and tribulations, we must reach out to loved ones to listen to their tales and memories and make sure they feel heard, regardless of the distances that may come between us.<\/p>\n By documenting and recording the stories of your loved one\u2019s life, not only can you preserve their legacy, but you can also achieve a better understanding of the person you are in the world today through the people who helped shape you.<\/p>\n In the last few years, I have helped document life stories of people from all over the world. We\u2019ve been in an incredibly privileged position to hear many previously untold stories.<\/p>\n I wanted to help capture the extraordinary ups and downs of everyday people\u2014making it easy for families and loved ones to share stories today and with future generations. Since our launch, we have written over a thousand life stories\u2014each gripping and unique.<\/p>\n I have always been fascinated by the art of storytelling. My grandfather, one of the main motivators behind my decision to help people document their life stories, was a member of the resistance in the Netherlands in World War II, fighting against the threat of destruction at the hands of the Nazis. Throughout my childhood, my grandfather would regale me with tales of his time spent in the resistance and tell glowing stories of his relationship with my grandmother.<\/p>\n I always wanted to document the tales that my grandfather told me during my childhood, but unfortunately, he passed away before I could chronicle his colorful life. Getting caught up in the ups and downs of my own life kept me from taking a short pause to reflect and write down the incredible stories of my grandfather\u2019s life, and that loss weighs heavily on me.<\/p>\n With the health crisis at hand, many of us are concerned about our state of mind. But sharing stories and writing can be one of the most therapeutic ways for us to connect in this difficult time and offers an opportunity to document stories that we will be thankful for later on.<\/p>\n I have learned that, above all, a connection to our past is vital for our mental health and well-being\u2014and preserving and reminiscing about our life stories is so important to our happiness. Documenting memories and the emotions attached to them enable us to share and reminisce on our personal tales \u2014 and everyone has a story worth sharing.<\/p>\n Time to Write Your Life Story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2020","category-spring-summer-2020-columns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9976"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10327,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9976\/revisions\/10327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rutger Bruining is the CEO of StoryTerrace<\/a>, a company that connects people with professional ghostwriters to help them write their life stories.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"