Autobiography Help For My Application

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CarmeliteGirl25

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I have plenty of time to write this, and I probably won’t even start until later this month, but I need to write a short autobiography to include with my application for admission to the Carmelites of the Divine Heart of Jesus. I don’t know what to write about. I know that it is supposed to be about me, but what do I include?? If anyone has ever written one for admittance, I’d love to hear what you wrote about. I just want to be myself, but I don’t want to go over the limit. After all, they said SHORT autobiography! LOL! Thanks in advance!
 
I have never written one before, but I plan on writing one someday hopefully soon. I would include a little biography of me(name, birth date, birth location, home parish), why you want to enter that particular order, how God has influenced your life, maybe you could mention what it means to be a Catholic. I also would mention how long you have been discerning a call to the religious life. That is all the advice I can give to you, I hope it helps. 🙂

God Bless
 
An autobiography would also include schooling and work but more importantly significant moments in your life, changes, deaths, illnesses, highlights, anything that significantly impacted your life and your decisions. While it is not a play by play description of everything you did, it should give the reader a pretty good picture of who you are and how you got to where you are now.
 
Here’s what I had to work off of for my FSSP application:
Autobiographical Guide Sheet

Family Background
Give a brief description of your relationship with your parents and other members of your
family. What factors in your “family history” have influenced you (i.e. deaths,
separations, environment, family mobility)? Have you been permitted to make your own
decisions in matters that are important to you?

Educational Background
Homeschooled? College? Has school been an enjoyable experience for you? Why or
why not? Do you like to study? What are your areas of interest?

Personality
How would you describe yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses? Is there
anything about yourself you would like to change? What are some of your likes and
dislikes? How do your ideas of what you are now match with what you “hope to
become?” Are you a realist or an idealist?
Click to expand...
Social Life
How have your friends influenced your ambitions, ideals, and behavior? Is it easy for
you to make friends and relate to others? Why or why not? What things have you done
that have given you great satisfaction? Would you classify yourself as introverted or
extraverted, and what do you see as the resulting strengths & weaknesses?

Health
Has there been anything about your physical or psychological health that has had some
effect on you? In what way?

Attitudes
Comment on your attitudes toward: marriage, dating, the Church’s role in regard to
contemporary issues, changes in the Church and in society, difficulties and setbacks in
life, work and authority.

Spiritual Development
How would you describe your prayer life? What factors from your home nurtured your
spiritual life? Do you have a spiritual director? What have been your most significant
spiritual experiences?

Vocation
What are some of your expectations of priesthood? How long have you considered
becoming a priest? What influenced you most in your decision to enter the priesthood?
Are you involved in church activities in your parish or in the diocese? If so, how?
Click to expand...
Please be as thorough as possible when completing your autobiography.
Click to expand...
Hope that helps! And congrats on the step! (It’s both scary and exciting I know!)
 
Well, I got finished with my autobiography MUCH sooner than I anticipated! It seems there is a real drive in me to get this finished and turned in so I can set a date! I worked on the long version that I started with for the past 2 days, but after chatting with some of the Sisters on Facebook, I found out that it was FAR too long, and most of them only submitted a few pages (front and back). Here I was with 8 pages!!! :eek: So, I decided to start over and handwrite a rough draft to show my spiritual director tomorrow. I worked on it for two solid hours and I’m finished! Best of all, it’s three pages, front and back! I included the most important things about my childhood, some fond memories about band, my history of depression and why I was depressed (and that I am no longer on the medication), and how I received my call. Most importantly, I included why I am called to their order, and no one else’s. Please pray that my spiritual director and I have a thorough meeting tomorrow and that I can find a job soon to include on my application (at least a volunteer job if nothing else). If I have to turn the application in without finding a job, then I will, but I think it will look much better if I have one. I don’t want to appear to be sitting at home waiting until I move to the convent. 😉 I’m certainly not doing that! I’m taking the CNA test next Thursday!!! 👍
 
CarmeliteGirl25 said:
Best of all, it’s three pages, front and back! I included the most important things about my childhood, some fond memories about band, my history of depression and why I was depressed (and that I am no longer on the medication), and how I received my call. Most importantly, I included why I am called to their order, and no one else’s.

If I have to turn the application in without finding a job, then I will, but I think it will look much better if I have one.
Click to expand...
I am not sure if it is really important if you have a job and do not discuss anything about job and the people you work with on your paper. This discussion can help the Sisters to know you more. Maybe you can write something about this from your previous jobs.

Part of my application’s autobiography is to talk about relationship - with family, friends, and employees at work. This is very important for the vocation that I am discerning…and I believe for you too since you will be living with a community of many people having all sorts of personalities. 🙂
 
withwind said:
I am not sure if it is really important if you have a job and do not discuss anything about job and the people you work with on your paper. This discussion can help the Sisters to know you more. Maybe you can write something about this from your previous jobs.

Part of my application’s autobiography is to talk about relationship - with family, friends, and employees at work. This is very important for the vocation that I am discerning…and I believe for you too since you will be living with a community of many people having all sorts of personalities. 🙂
Click to expand...
I decided, on the recommendation of my mom, to include some bits and pieces of my old jobs and how I couldn’t really find what I needed. I had trouble focusing on them–so much so that the doctors wondered if I had Attention Deficit Disorder (if I have it, it’s very mild, and I’m not including that on my autobiography). But when I discovered my call to religious life, it’s like I found a piece of me that had been missing and everything fell into place. How can something that feels so right be mistaken? (rhetoric 🙂 ) I know that not everything will be wonderful, and there will be many sacrifices to make, but I know in my heart this is what I am called to do. 😃 I’ve never felt so right about anything else before.
 
If you couldn’t find what you need at those jobs, what do you learn from it – Some additional suggestions regarding to writing about your previous jobs:
  • your relationship with your boss and supervisor
  • your like/dislikes about the jobs
  • how do solve problems with people you had at work.
  • how you practice your faith at the jobs.
 
CarmeliteGirl25 said:
Well, I got finished with my autobiography MUCH sooner than I anticipated! It seems there is a real drive in me to get this finished and turned in so I can set a date! I worked on the long version that I started with for the past 2 days, but after chatting with some of the Sisters on Facebook, I found out that it was FAR too long, and most of them only submitted a few pages (front and back). Here I was with 8 pages!!! :eek: So, I decided to start over and handwrite a rough draft to show my spiritual director tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Mine was 21 pages :eek:
 
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