“Jacquie, if you fell down a well, you’d come up with friends.” That was said to me when I was about twenty years old. Every now and then, when I need a lift, I think of that line.

Being just off the boat in Sydney from Canada in 1991, life as a young mum and Sydney’s lockdowns tested my power to overcome the feeling of isolation and loneliness. I grew up in a great big bustling family, our backdoor was always open for friends to pop in and our kitchen pine table was a hive of silliness, laughter and love (Mum used to say, “If tables could talk, the stories this table could tell!”), so being on my lonesome was quite a shock. But drawing on my memories and remembering I’d soon come up with friends pulled me through.

As you write your life story, you’ll jump into a rollercoaster of ups and downs: wells and light. And all of the people who shaped and guided you throughout your life will weave through your story. Through your life have there been people who just get you and make you belly laugh and/or give you that palpable feeling of peace and calm? You will record their words of wisdom forever. When you need a boost of self esteem or a shove in the right direction, you can pick up your life story book and hear their voices.

You will also record your own words of wisdom and your voice, creating a treasure trove of loving advice to pass down to your kids, their kids, their kids, their kids … to infinity. As you write, you are recording the past while passing valuable messages on to the future.