Six Words for a Year
Every night for the last year, I’ve done the same, simple practice. I’ve written a memoir that summarizes the day’s events in the confinement of just six words. It’s taken only a few minutes and has truly been one of my favorite disciplines I’ve adopted.
This idea came from Smith Magazine, which had people distill their life stories in six words. If you have an opportunity, reading them is a blast. It’s amazing what people can come up with in one line. The original idea is credited to Earnest Hemingway, who when asked to write a story in six words, responded: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Yet with all this published content, my friend jLouis was truly the one who shared with me that he was inspired by these simple yet profound stories, and began writing each day, not life, as a six word memoir. Sharing the same sentiment, I started doing it too.
Originally, I committed to doing to writing one every day for a year. At the time of this post, it will have been a total of 379 memoirs of all different kinds. Some are straight to the point and decently boring, like “Driving home from Traverse City, Michigan.” Others are more profound and focus on what I was considering that day: “Processing visions and systems for success.” While it might sound strange, writing these memoirs has been a highlight of my day. It’s never been a burden, because often I get to the end of the day, see the reminder on my phone, and then spend a total of 10 seconds writing the day’s events. For such a short time commitment, I can reflect on what I did and how I thought every day for the past year.
We all need reflection. Every single one of us needs space in our life to think, process, and feel what is going on inside our minds. Writing a six word memoir is not necessarily the answer, just a brief practice to recall the day that worked for me. Lots of people have different ways of doing this, whether that is writing in a physical journal, meditation, yoga, or logging three things you’re grateful for on a whiteboard. I’ve heard a pastor say he commits to spending 5 minutes in silence in his driveway before going into the house with his family. It doesn’t matter how you reflect, it just matters that you do. Feel free to steal the idea of a six word memoir, or try something else for a week. Whatever you do, never forget to reflect on who you are and where you’re going.
