What’s your story? It may seem difficult to to summarize but nobody is better prepared to tell the story that is truly yours than YOURS TRULY!

Today’s guest, James R. Hagerty, joins the Aging GreatFULLy power-hour with a special message for listeners: Someday, the story of your life will be written. The only question is how well will it be written and how will you define the meaning of your amazing life? Will it inspire others today and into the future to live more fully? What would you say about the unique journey of becoming you?

As The Wall Street Journal’s only obituary writer, James R. Hagerty, has spent his professional life summing up the meaning of a life and capturing the final story for many. As a result, he has written a book, YOURS TRULY: An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story, to help readers preserve their best stories. He believes doing so may be the best gift you ever give to your family and friends. However, he also shares the side benefit in reviewing your life story and measuring your life before someone else does it for you, prompts us to think about life’s different paths and sudden twists. The takeaway is often discovering there’s still time for new adventures and opportunities to rewrite your script.

Hagerty has written hundreds of obituaries about the famous, the should-have-been-famous, the infamous, notable, and little-known. He’s gifted in the ability to sum up a life’s glorious highs and lows, and goes straight to the heart of what it was all about. We uncover how everyone can apply Hagerty’s skills as an obit writer to examining their own life while still living it!

Tune in as we discuss his recently released book, YOURS TRULY: An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story, a heartfelt and reassuring guide, with Hagerty leading you to find the extraordinary in your ordinary – the pivotal moments, the failures, the incredible, the beautiful, and the painful points that go into every life, and makes yours unique. You’ll discover that the highs and the lows, the disappointments and the small, quiet, beautiful moments, make up who you are. Looking at your life story so far is a spirited exercise that often leads to surprising places and in many cases, transformative experiences.

Over the past four decades, James R. Hagerty has worked as a reporter, editor and bureau chief for the WSJ and the International Herald Tribune in Hong Kong, London, Brussels, Paris, Atlanta and New York. He holds a degree in economics from the University of North Dakota. To learn more about his work or purchase his book, YOURS TRULY, visit him at http://yours-truly.jamesrhagerty.com/.

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