I'm wondering if anyone here keeps a diary. If you do, why do you keep it? How does it benefit you in your experience? And, if you want to share, what are some of the happiest/most important memories in your diary? Personally I'm considering getting into the habit of keeping a diary for the first time. This follows a new years conversation with my friend, when we were talking about how much better our new years celebrations were when we were kids. He talked about many memories from his perspective of our friendship which just don't exist in my head, and that kind of affirmed my conclusion that I have a pretty patchy and poor memory of my childhood, which I think is sad, of course. Then he said that he wished he kept a diary when he was a kid, and when we're 20 years older we won't remember any of this. And of course, he's right. Even my memories of the last 5 years are scattered, sporadic, and I'm unable to put a timeframe on many of them. In 20 years, only the very strongest memories will remain, and all the others will be lost to time, which again I think is quite sad. So I'm doing it mostly to preserve my memories so I can relive them- just now I've written up some of my strongest childhood memories to scrape together what remains of them. Not only that, but discharging emotions and thoughts can help a ton with mental health and sorting through your mind, I've heard- so since I'm trying to improve myself perhaps I can also use it as a tool for that. So, any diary keepers around?
I did keep a diary as a kid. The problem was I had a tendency to write in one for a while and then lose it. I've found a few of them over the years (and typed up all the entries), but I know I don't have all of them. I still keep a diary now, a folder on my computer that contains a Word document for each year. I can password lock them if I feel like I need to, but I'm really possessive of my laptop so I haven't done that in a couple years. It's less keeping memories and more for getting my thoughts out of my head. I like using it to vent, especially about things that I don't feel I can talk to anyone about. I've found over the past few years that when I'm happiest, I write the least. But I do have some happy memories recorded--buying my first horse, the early days of my first relationship, my years of college. I actually used my diary the other day to check the dates of when I started working for my employer, for a resume. It's kind of nice having a record.
I have a journal. I don't write every day. I go through periods where I write more than others. Generally I write my thoughts, I use it as a way to empty my brain when I am feeling overwhelmed.
I've tried in the past but combining my poor handwriting with my bold choice of pen culminated into what appeared to be the ravings of a madman. I couldn't risk something like that being discovered.
I write every day. Since I was 12 I have been writing on and off. Most of that has been destroyed since I didn't want anyone to find those things. I have saved something and I got to admit I am afraid to read some of it. I write mostly because there is so many things I can't talk about to and things others wouldn't understand. And I am just very lonely most of the time and writing feels like I am having a conversation. It's also easier to find solutions to problems if I analyze them by writing down my thoughts about it. I also don't want everything to disappear and get lost. Forgotting things is like dying a little all the time.
I've had a journal since 2004. But when I joined the military, I didn't write in it because I didn't want anyone to find out. I write from time to time, or whenever I just feel like writing. It benefits me because it feels really good remembering some of the stupid funny things I've done in the past. Although for the most part of it, my journal entries can get depressing.
I had one in Middle School. It was my creepy grandmother's idea. I didn't want a dairy. She wanted to read what I wrote and keep it a secret between us. I can't remember if I ever let her read it. Probably not because, I took to writing about my first crush on a girl and me thinking that I was gay. Then, I wrote about then I wrote about the friends I made in summer camp and my crush on my gay male friend. I also wrote depressing and really, really, bad song lyrics. Anyway, after I stopped writing in it, I kept it for many years under my bed. See, I was terrified of someone reading the contents. A few years ago, I was getting a new bed so, I took my diary and I did my best to destroy it. I didn't burn it. I instead, blackened out my passages on my sexuality and tore out the pages. I kept tearing them until it would have been illegible to put them back together. Then, I put it in the trash. I've thought about keeping journals/writing memoirs. I don't know if I'd do it, though.
Ive kept a journal since i was six, I keep it because my memory seems to fail often (my mom says its because I'm never actually there, i live in my mind.) I also keep it because i want to read it when I'm older, I want to remember all of the good and bad things that happened. My godmother recently passed away, i was very close to her and i was to make a speech for her memorial, but i had trouble finding some good memories to put in it. I went back and looked in a journal from when i was about 7, and then all the memories came rushing back once i read it. Also writing daily or every other day, really relieves stress and anger for me.
I have a paper one and computer one. The paper one has a disadvantage: it takes a lot of time to write in it. Though my handwriting is not bad and I can read my emotional state in my hand writing afterwards, something you can't do on a computer. They are both pretty recent (less than a year).
I kept journals of trips and vacations but never daily life. I still have most of those journals. The ones I enjoy the most are from the cross country motorcycle trips. I'd never put many of the things I've done or many of my thoughts in writing. I'd never want anyone close to me to see a lot of it although my wife knows quite a bit and accepts it. I communicate with the gays I know using a website and email address that no one else knows about. I wish it wasn't like that but it has to be.
I wish, I always wanted to do this but I just cannot be this dedicated to it and I know that I wouldn't update the diary everyday lol...
I've tried several times, I still have a reminder every day alert me saying "don't forget about the journal entry!" I still say ah I'll do it later haha never gets done so I gave up :lol:
I kept a journal when I was younger that consisted of two notebooks. Every entry I would address to a boy, and thinking back on it he was really my imaginary friend. I was a pretty lonely child, so I had the journals and everything until I was about 10 or 11. One time my sister stole them, read them, and then showed our parents. Apparently they were really worried because I "wasn't supposed to have imaginary friends anymore" and I treated the one I was always addressing like an actual person. So I eventually ripped every single page up and threw it all away, and didn't have another journal until age 15. I regret ripping them up though because they held so many memories and experiences. It was part of my routine when I was younger to write in my journal everyday, so I regret throwing all of it away because I couldn't handle my sister reading them again or my parents being "worried" about me. I have a journal now, but I don't write about my life in it. Mostly, I write quotes and different motivational things. I've fallen in love with reading and writing, so I put all of my personal writings on my computer and leave my journal for all of the quotes I never want to forget about. Sometimes I write a bit of my own fictional stuff in it, too.
