Fascinatingly interesting question!

I’d say there are three things to consider:

1) Imagining wider possibilities – if using the third person.

I would say the difference is that if you write in the third person, you may imagine even more than what you might imagine in the first person. I once wrote an exercise on my blog – “write your quote bio.” I get daily quotes in my inbox and there is always a brief bio of the person – it’s always in the third person. So I encouraged a bunch of us to write some of our own “quote bio”s!

2) Not being tied to who you are today – if using the third person.

Another thing is that according to psychology, we often have the recency bias – we tend to see things related to those events that happened most recently.  So if you write in the first person, you may make the person at the end of your life very similar to how you are today.  … And you actually might be quite different in many years!

3) Research-wise, less information is available about using the third person voice in the future.

As Derrick Carpenter writes here, Laura King has done research on the “Best Future Self” exercise that I believe has also been replicated by Sonja Lyubomirsky. In this exercise, a person is instructed to write about life in the future assuming that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. From what I understand, the responses were in the first person. And this exercise proved to be very beneficial – increasing well-being and decreasing hospital visits over a semester for college students.

So, in summary, despite the less research about it, I would go for it.  I would write about the boundless future in the third person. And then I would grow into that third-person description. (Hint: here’s a delightful article about how to get from here to the future: http://www.trizle.com/what-question-to-ask-yourself).

This question was really interesting to think about.
Thanks, Kirsten,

Senia

I’m curious. I was just challenged today to write the ENDING to the story of my life. I am intrigued, and I plan to give it a whirl. Would you suggest I use the first person or the third?

Very practical, a bit like narrative. I will use it today when I start work at Probation and Parole as a counsellor / coach. I will ask my client to tell me about his life story and then go from there. I am with Elona that it can help these situations and the clients to build a positive picture of themselves.
I remember how powerful it was many years ago when a counsellor told me I had done a good job to get to this point, I was a survivor, doing the best I could with what I have available. It changed the story for me and was empowering, seeing myself as strong.

Kind Regards

Atlanta (enjoy your summer its starting to get cold in Australia)

Happy Memorial Day!
Caroline