Your untold stories
"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in the details of daily life." William Morris
I hope you have had a good start to 2025, after a wonderful festive season. Thank you for waiting while I, in the tradition of a new year, reviewed Motley Stories and considered a slightly different direction.
For nearly two years I have been writing Substack articles with the hope of inspiring you to write your memoirs, and to view your life events from different perspectives.
After reviewing my past articles and comments from readers, I have come to two conclusions. The first is that we are often too busy to write our memoirs, at least before we retire. However, as time passes, we forget many details.
My second conclusion is that we often only focus on major life events. We fail to include the everyday details of our lives, or the cultural and social context in which we live. We don’t complete the whole picture - there are many untold stories.
"It is possible that everything you generated in your life will be erased, perhaps while you are still alive but most definitely in the arc of 100 years". Brian Roemmele.
This is the case with our ancestors. Even if we come across a few of their letters and diaries, we often lack information about their daily lives. Like us, they saw no need to mention everyday details, because everyone was familiar with them.
However, many generations later, we are curious about how previous generations lived. For instance we wonder what they ate, how they dressed, what changes they had to contend with, the cost of everything, and what their cherished possessions were. It is also intriguing to learn about the cultural norms of their time. We would love to know why they made the decisions they did, what they thought about their lives and the world around them.
Samuel Pepys wrote about his everyday life, providing us with a detailed understanding of his life in 17th century England. However, as a writer and politician Pepys did not live an ‘ordinary’ life. It would have been very interesting to read a diary written by his wife Elizabeth. Although literacy rates were increasing, most people at the time would not have written diaries or letters, which is why we have few written records of their experiences. But it is different nowadays, and some of us should document our ‘ordinary’ way of life, including the social and cultural environment we live in, before it disappears. Otherwise, all that will be left will be biographies of the famous and infamous.
The lives of future generations, even in 100 years, will be very different from ours.
For example, many of us grew up before computers dominated every aspect of our daily lives. We will probably be one of the last generations to drive manual cars, and how will artificial intelligence (AI) impact our work and the way we live? Future generations will have some of the same challenges, and some new ones that we cannot imagine. We need to pass on our knowledge and the insights we have learnt, so that future generations can benefit.
Let’s create a record of the way we lived, what we observed, our wisdom, and our views of the world around us.
We can achieve this by being observant of our surroundings, and the details of how we live. There are personal benefits to be gained from taking the time to notice the small details of everyday life, of being more observant, and reflecting on what is happening around us. Pausing the hectic pace of everyday life to ‘stand and stare’ can promote a positive mental state1.
"What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare." William Henry Davis.
It can be as easy as taking a photo and writing a caption, which can help you later recall the memory, and add depth to your stories. Much like a photo taken of the family dog in your kitchen. Many years later, the photo will remind you of your beloved dog, and evoke nostalgic memories as you look at the forgotten details of the family kitchen, in your childhood home, that was sold years before. Your written words can enhance your photo, or if you don’t have a photo, they will help to create a picture in your mind.
Even the seemingly insignificant observations of the world around you are worth remembering. You never know when you might want to write a memoir, a history for your children, or share your notes with others. There is so much positive value in looking at old photos, or reading your old diaries and journals, and revisiting the past.
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
Different ways to document your life
Take a photo every day, of everyday life around you. Choose a focus, or at a certain predetermined time every day, say 11am, take a photo - and don’t forget to add a caption.
Write or type in a diary or journal. Just a couple of sentences a day is fine.
Use an app to journal or save photos. Here are some examples. Some apps will download your entries into a printed book.
Post a daily photo on a private social media account, or in a WhatsApp group. This can have the double benefit of not only of keeping friends & family updated but also serve as a way of recording your life.
Include local news articles, social media posts, emails, texts, and excerpts from magazine articles to your journal.
Add items typically found in a commonplace book, such as your ideas, plans, dreams, quotations, hobbies, sports, books, things you’ve learnt, and music2.
Don’t forget to include your reflections on your culture, how things have changed over the course of your lifetime, and any wisdom you would like to pass on.
Observing one thing every day is a great habit to develop.
Establishing a daily routine is the easiest and most effective method for maintaining an observational photo collection or journal. But it does not have to be burdensome or time-consuming task. Just taking one photograph with a caption, or writing a couple of lines a day, will suffice. Include a pause in every day, and take a moment to stand & stare.
Starting a daily observation photo habit or journal, has two main benefits. Firstly, the limited time available prevents overthinking and encourages authenticity in your photography or writing. Secondly, once you exhaust the obvious subjects, you are forced to broaden your focus, leading you to appreciate things that you might not have noticed otherwise.
Please, share some of your photos and stories on Motley Stories Chat, and see what other people around the world are doing.
What are you currently doing that could be optimised to document your daily life?
You probably already share many details of your life in emails, texts, notes etc. If you save them and add a little more detail, especially if you intend to record one detail from your life every day, you will quickly gather a lot of information for your journal.
This is real life, not Instagram perfection.
Don’t strive for perfectionism in your choice of subject, photography, writing or in any of the ways you choose to document your story. This is about real life.
I hope to inspire you write or photograph your everyday life, collecting snippets of your day that will document your life.
Each week in my free Substack article, which I send out every Sunday, I will be reflecting on a different aspect of daily life in Scotland. Please join the comments and share your views on the topic.
Motley Stories Chat
I will also discuss the weekly focus topic in my free Substack Chat. I hope that you will join me in sharing photos and observations from our daily lives around the world.
Let’s tell the story of how we live and share our wisdom & insights from the 21st century.
My new Substack: sorting, managing and using your photos to tell your stories.
Many of us are overwhelmed by our photographs. It becomes a problem when we can’t easily find the photos we want, or they are lost in the mist of half-forgotten memories. I realise that, even if you only take one observational photo a day, you will be adding to the problem.
If you have gone to all the trouble of taking photos, you want to enjoy them and keep important photos preserved in family records for years to come. They also need to remain accessible.
I am starting a Motley Stories Community to help with these issues. I will be publishing a series of guides to provide advice on managing and organising your photos. The guides will also cover how to easily save your photos, stories and observations. Saving your stories and photos so they don’t disappear into a digital dark hole is important3. I will include tips on how to incorporate stories and photos into your future memoirs, photo books, or other formats.
In the Motley Stories Community Chat, we will be able to share ideas and troubleshoot sticking points.
I will send more information about the Motley Stories Community soon. The community will be for paid subscribers. Please add a comment if you are interested, and if there are any particular subjects you would like me to cover.
Leisure by William Henry Davies
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.
Taking Notice. According to the New Economics Foundation, which devised the Five Ways of Wellbeing – which includes Taking Notice – mindfulness can prevent depression. It can also promote positive mental states; and can help to self-regulate behaviour and heighten self-knowledge.
If you are planning to publish your notes in a public forum, make sure to check and comply with local copyright regulations.
The ‘digital dark hole’ refers to a situation where your data or photos become inaccessible to you, or others who want access after you die. This could happen if your passwords are lost, you experience computer failure, your back up disc fails (they don’t last forever), you find your data is corrupted in some way, or you have outdated software or hardware. A company may discontinue an app or application (Picasa was discontinued by Google in 2016), or discontinue a service (Apple's My Photo Stream service was shut down in 2023). It is unlikely your digital photos and data will be available to future generations unless you and your descendants actively manage digital storage - and you are lucky.
I LOVE your opening quote. All those scenes and situations and stories that seem ordinary. I sometimes give myself the challenge to describe a place, without looking, that I was just in and in which nothing extraordinary occurred. Yup...I need to go back and pay attention to details! Adding a picture...that allows me to see even more than what I thought I saw when I paid attention.
So true about documenting every life. Most families only take photos on holiday or at special occasions. I remind myself to take photos of a regular Friday night dinner, or the garden on a sunny day. I have no photos of so many places I've lived! I also wish I had more candid photos of my family and ancestors going about their everyday lives.
I have one treasured photo of my grandmother in her kitchen taken in the mid 1950s. (Unfortunately, the comments feature does not let me post it here.) Her back is to the camera and she is busy chopping something. She was an excellent home cook and took pride in her work. She also hated having her picture taken so someone clearly sneaked the shot, who was probably testing a new camera. I love this photo more than any of the formal portraits where she is looking her best.