Do you keep a diary/journal/scrapbook of sorts?

Nope, I'm far too paranoid and secretive.

Thought I've often considered keeping a journal - but I have yet to develop an appropriate system in which to code it.

 

I kept a diary for a while and I rather enjoyed it- but I ran out of pages and never got round to doing it again. We also have a family scrapbook in our house that we stick photos and leaflets in whenever we go anywhere interesting.

 

I started using a document as a diary a few years ago to hash out some sexual frustration that I was just letting simmer terribly otherwise. It's actually a really great way to not only vent, but read over what you wrote and understand your states of mind with a ton more clarity. Obviously that same process was invaluable to me in the coming out process ... particularly with being honest with myself. I recommend it to everybody. Not just in the LGBT community but anyone who is interested in self analysis, period. Looking at the thoughts you write and responding to them in new entries is like an ongoing conversation that will help you to grow. You, in a way, will discover that you can be a pretty effective teacher of yourself.

 

"scrapbook of sorts" would be a decent way to define it.

I have a blank notebook that I started filling with poems, drawings, clipped on pictures, leaves... there's pretty much a lot going on there.

 

I can't. I have a planner which serves after the fact as a prompt for memory and I can have journals about particular projects, but I just can't use a diary. It feels like self-idolatry, which is admittedly rather absurd but nonetheless an impassable block for me. I find self-exploration extremely challenging without external stimulus, and I often can only engage in that process of trying to better understand myself directly in response to a particular stimulus.

 

I've kept a journal on and off for about 10 years. As of now I have 7 separate journals I've filled and working on the next. I mostly write about what's up in my life, as a sort of record, just general events and feelings. But, I also forget to write in it a lot of the time.

I think it's useful not only to vent (so many younger entries like "I hate [sibling/friend/parent/etc]!! I'm so mad!!" lol), but also to be a record.

For example when I was trying to figure everything out gender/sexuality wise, part of what I did was go back over my old entries. When I saw that there were lots of instances of me voicing the same thoughts, I was like, 'hmm, there's a pattern here, clearly something is going on...' Also I've looked back at a couple instances and gone, 'huh, I don't remember feeling that way back then,' so it's interesting to see how my thoughts have changed over the years as well.

Unfortunately over the years my siblings have gone through and read it, and I have strong suspicions my parents did as well. For a while I wrote in a 'code' of sorts, but now I just don't put anything in there that I'd really like to be kept secret.

 

I kept at least two journals but I never finished writing in them. I just bought a new one and I haven't even started writing in it yet. I want to start writing in it but I just never have time and I know that's no excuse tho

 

I've been keeping a diary since first grade, and I wrote in the same book till fifth grade. I now have a different diary that I've had since mid-2012. I write in it occasionally, but not that much. I don't really write secrets in it, more of things that are going on in my life right then and what I think the future will be like.

I've started writing what I call 'digital diaries' last month, about my journey of being a transgender boy. So I can look back at them and see how far I've come in the future.

 

I collect random quotes that I like on my computer, phone, etc. But I don't necessarily write anything.

I have a physical and online scrapbook that I put photos in of my life from time to time, but other than that not so much. I used to write in a journal of certain times of my life, but I hated what I wrote, so I got rid of it.

 

I have a Writing Journal and a Drawing Journal. The Writing Journal is used to vent and the Drawing Journal is for things that I come up with while I'm out in public. If I see something that inspires me for a drawing or a painting, I sketch it and write down the details that I'm thinking about.

 

I keep a diary,and I have done since I was fourteen. I've had other diaries, but they were too embarrassing so I threw them away. Plus my sister got hold of one the once and read it out loud, and this is why I hate her sometimes.

She hasn't found my current one yet and I plan to keep it that way. I forget what happened to my old digital one, it was on a floppy disk somewhere. Ah floppy disks, someone still loves you out there.

I just write whatever's on my mind (mostly complaining and being philosophical, that among complaining about being bored). It's a shame it isn't more of an interesting read, but not much has happened at the moment, and when it does by the time I can write about it in my diary I don't care about it anymore and end up writing a half-effort entry in which I clearly don't care about what I'm writing. Hopefully my life will get more interesting, because at the moment I feel like I'm relying on music and the internet just to feel something rather than shaping my own interests. But it's hard when very little interests you and you don't want to be defined by others solely on a particular interest.

 

I had a diary until a few years ago.
But my parents used to read it and it had quite some embaressing things in it. Had to throw it into a fire. Never ever thought of writing on again.

 

I'm not sure what to call it, but it's a physical book filled with letters written to my future self. It has poems, pages of venting, drawings, and just jots of how I'm feeling. Nonetheless, being as closeted as I am, it's a great place to just "talk" about my sexual annoyances and such.

 

I have a diary. It's just a regular notebook with a kitty on it that I hide under my bed. I rarely write in it, but when I do its about normal teenage stuff, like crushes and fights with friends and school. Kinda cliche.

 

I have a crappy old black notebook that I write whatever comes into my mind in. I haven't used it in a while because I'm afraid of someone finding it. Normally, if I write in it, I'll freak out, rip up the page, soak the scraps in water and flush it down the toilet. I'm VERY paranoid

 

I do for big LGBT themed things that happen to me. It's a Google Doc that I shared with my friend.

If one needs a code, my best friend and I came up with one that has numbers corresponding to letters in the alphabet (1 = A, 2 = B, so on)

8-5-12-12-15 = Hello

OR you could use a code that takes each letter from a word and puts it at the front of another word.

Her ogling weasels all round every young orphan up? = How are you?

 

I do for big LGBT themed things that happen to me. It's a Google Doc that I shared with my friend.

If one needs a code, my best friend and I came up with one that has numbers corresponding to letters in the alphabet (1 = A, 2 = B, so on)

8-5-12-12-15 = Hello

OR you could use a code that takes each letter from a word and puts it at the front of another word.

Her ogling weasels all round every young orphan up? = How are you?

 

I have a diary but it's more focused on memories and my day-to-day then any kind of philosophy or deep emotions. I like capturing the moment and I'm always so glad I do when I read them a few months/years later.