The Value of Life Review

We all want to make sense of our lives, but in no one is this urge stronger than an older adult. When we are young, we focus on uncovering our dreams and working hard to make those dreams come true. When we are older, we focus on our memories, making sense of them, asking ourselves if we led a good life, if our life had significance and meaning.

​My instincts tell me that the process of reviewing one’s life matters deeply and that everyone does it, whether consciously or unconsciously. I wanted to learn more so I’ve been reading a lot about the value of life review. ​

I’ve discovered that scientists have been studying this topic for a long time, and their findings are compelling. The research of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social scientists consistently shows an increase in life satisfaction and psychological well-being in those older adults who participate in some form of life review, whether it is telling their life story to another person or spending time alone reflecting and writing about their life.

Dr. Robert Butler (1927 – 2010), a world-renowned gerontologist and psychiatrist, was one of the first physicians to write about the life review process, a process he defined as “the tendency of older people towards self-reflection.” (1) He determined that as we age, we naturally gravitate towards this process, with the goal of giving meaning to our lives. By ​remembering and reflecting on the past, the life review process fosters understanding and allows us to come to peace with the past and the present.

According to Barbara Haight, Professor Emeritus and past Director of the graduate program in Gerontological Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina, “In life review, you put things in their proper place. If you don’t do it on your own, you will have a feeling of loss rather than accomplishment because you have not put a value on your life.” (2)

I recently watched a powerful TEDx talk by Susan Bosak, a social researcher and educator who founded the Legacy Project, an independent organization focused on connecting generations and helping us look at our lives and our world in a multi-generational context. 

In her talk, she says, “Your legacy is the most powerful part of you. It is the part that matters. It is the part that will last. Why do we throw that away? We need to own it consciously and nurture it actively. The power of legacy on an individual level is that we can draw on the past and the present to touch an infinite future with our finite lives.”

When I reflect on what my first client had to say about the process of working with me to create her memoir, I see how perfectly her response fits with what I’ve learned about the value of life review. She said, “The experience of looking back over my life was profound. Telling my story out loud, then having a skilled writer turn it into a coherent narrative, has been an amazing experience. I can see in the written pages and photographs from my life a kind of sense and structure that is vastly comforting.”

Whether an older adult captures their life story in a book, a video, an audio recording, or simply talks about their life to someone who will listen deeply, the act of going through the life review process can make a powerful difference in their understanding of themselves, their past, and their legacy.

There is no greater agony ​than
​bearing an untold story inside you.
​~Maya Angelou

(1) Aging and Mental Health, by Robert N. Butler and Myrna I. Lewis
(2)  LA Times