25 Life Events That Can Cause Dramatic Change in Your Life:

Carolyn V. Hamilton
2 min readFeb 13, 2022

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How did what happened change you?

Photo courtesy of Josealbafotos

It’s always been a given in fiction writing that the main character must experience some form of change by the end of the book.

So what does this have to do with the memoir you’re writing?

Personal experience leads to lessons learned.

Here are 25 life events that can cause dramatic change in your life:

1. Moving to a new city

2. Death of one or both parents

3. Travel to a foreign country

4. Abuse, physical and/or emotional

5. Falling in love (and getting married)

6. A near-death experience

7. Catastrophic illness

8. Divorce

9. Having children

10. Fire

11. Major surgery

12. Graduating from college or university

13. Getting your “dream job”

14. Getting fired

15. Death of a child

16. Rape

17. War

18. Imprisonment

19. Living abroad

20. Death of your spouse

21. Bankruptcy

22. A car accident

23. Being elected to public office

24. Addiction (and overcoming it)

25. Retirement

I’m sure you’ll agree that you know a lot more now than you did when your journey began.

In some — maybe several — ways that knowledge has changed you.

Let’s also look at your body — the most consistent part of your life.

Dr. Jonas Frisen, a stem cell biologist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, found that your body’s cells largely replace themselves every 7 to 10 years. Old cells mostly die and are replaced by new ones. A head-to-toe rejuvenation can take up to a decade or so.

So every decade you’re almost literally a new person!

Maybe we should be celebrating decade birthdays instead of annual birthdays. And using the occasion to celebrate and re-think our lives, our relationships, our goals, and our experiences.

Take a few minutes to think about how you changed after a three of these 25 live events and make notes about it.

Then say that in your memoir.

If you’d like to know more about how to begin to write your memoir, TAP the following url for a free 3-video mini course:

https://www.memoirtolegacy.com/pl/2147675901

How did what happened change you?

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Carolyn V. Hamilton

Author, graphic designer & marketer with 30+years in the real world of “Mad Men.” Love dogs, Chai tea & coaching Aspiring Memoir Writers (my FB group).