Reflection- Autobiography Project

Thanks to my professor Cynthia Pittmann, I started to develop my own Autobiography Project.  The purpose of the Autobiography Project was to learn more about myself and my ancestors. I can say that the Autobiography Project worked for me. Through deep research from past memories, I found explanations to my present behaviors. Also, I remembered situations from my childhood that can help me now and in the future. With that being said, the activity that helped me the most in achieving the purpose of the Autobiography Project was the Timeline.

With the Timeline, I discovered emotional problems that I didn’t even knew I had. For example, how much my parents’ divorce had affected me. In my Timeline, I decided to visit (through my memory) every house that I had lived in. It was amazing to me how much important things I had forgotten. Luckily, with deep concentration I started to remember events as far as when I was four years old. Also, remembering my past relationships with my friends, family and neighbors, made me feel like a whole different person. It was like seeing myself, but not recognizing me. That, made me realize how much I had change, both positively and negatively. The Timeline also made me extremely grateful for all the good and bad things that had happened to me. Thanks to the Timeline, I now know why I act as I do in certain situations.

Nevertheless, other activities helped me as well. Through the Venn Diagram, I noticed how much I fought with my mom. Consequently, I’ve been trying to fix our relationship, so every day we grow stronger and not apart.

Additionally, with the Cluster Work, I realized that my name had many qualities that could either, distinguish me positively from other people, or make people remember my name for negative political reasons.

To conclude, I would love to keep the Autobiography Project, and read it again in ten or twenty years to see how much my life and the lives of the people around me have changed. Maybe many people that I have mention in this project will be out of my life or even dead. Therefore, I hope that I can grow from this project, have better relationships with others, and create stories that my successors will remember as well.

Ps: This project made me think of the song "If Today Was Your Last Day" by Nickelback, they share some similarities. For example, both make you cherish every memory you have, and motivate you to make the best of your time in Earth. Enjoy the song!