By 
10 ESSENTIAL THINGS YOU LEARN WHEN YOU DO FAMILY HISTORY
Emily Walker
Family history teaches some essential truths that you need in this world. How many of these have YOU learned from doing family history?
With the Worldwide Indexing Event coming up, take a moment to look at the reasons why you do family history in the first place, and what you’ve learned because of it. You may be surprised that these truths, ones that seem like common sense to you, are not as readily understood or believed by others.
1. Diligence makes miracles happen.
Family history can often be frustrating when you hit wall after wall before finding a lead. In the process, though, you learn that you have to work for anything worthwhile in this life. The work you put it actually makes the final result more worth it in the end.
2. There’s no one in the world is as unique as you.
Your story is made up of lots of stories, some very similar to others, but it’s still uniquely yours. Family history opens doors of connections, but it also provides a greater understanding of your individuality.
3. You can’t do this alone.
Finding specific records is often a challenge that requires you to ask for help. But in the process you see that it’s not such a bad thing to reach out when you can’t do something on your own.
4. Family ties last longer than death.
The more you learn about your ancestors, the more they seem real to you. Even family members that you never had the chance to meet suddenly become actual people in your mind and heart.
5. There is goodness in this world.
Stories of hope are rampant across genealogical records. They’ve become your perfect pick-me-ups when the world seems to have lost a little of its goodness.
6. Your family isn’t perfect.
You learn about the good in your family as you do genealogy, but also the dark sides. Every family has them. Surprisingly, learning more about how imperfect your ancestors were helps you not feel so burdened by the imperfections in your family now. It gives you hope that things will turn out alright.
7. Nothing beats a bad day quite like service.
When you’re feeling the blues, you find no better remedy than sitting down and doing some family history. You may wonder if you’re doing much of a service to your ancestors, especially when it feels like they provide the service to you in cheering you up on those dreary days.
8. Family relationships take a lot of work to keep together.
Sometimes you spend hours searching for ancestors, but you soon realize that the relationships you have with your living family take just as much (if not more) time to strengthen.
9. This world is a lot bigger than just you.
With the world’s population continually increasing, you would think that people would know that they are not the center of the universe. Yet, humans often tend to be just as selfish as they have been in the past, if not more so. The cure? When someone takes the time doing pursuits outside of themselves, like family history, they begin to see that they are not the only ones of importance in this world.
10. Family matters.
You’ve found horror stories and you’ve found love stories. Stories that inspire you, stories that make you cry. You’ve come across a lot while doing family history, but your key learning from it all is that family is one of those things that matters more than others.
