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Do you keep a journal?

Ruzi

New Member
A lot of people out there like to keep a journal or a diary in their spare time. It's really just a great way to get things off your chest when you have nobody to talk to, or when you'd rather not talk. I keep a diary, and have been for about two years now. I like being able to go back and read what I wrote, what was going on in my mind. I also keep a little "journal" for poems, songs and quotes, some by me, some by people I find smart. Both my diary and my poem/quote journal are in nice blank books, so that they'll last me a while even after they're full. So what about everyone else? Do you keep a diary or a journal, if so how long have you kept it?
 
I've kept an online diary for the last few years but use it more as a way to continue writing rather than document how I feel. I write for other people to appreciate it, not for myself - which kind of defeats the purpose of a diary, but don't see any other need for it.

Mxx
 
I too keep an online journal. There are millions of of us posting journals all over the net on various blog sites, so it is a ppoular thing. It seems to be the way to do it thesedays.

I did used to keep a regular journal for many years, but switched to online for many reasons.
The main reasons were, no more faded writing, more convenience and of course, friends can read it too :)
 
I don't keep a diary. I used to when I was younger, but that was mainly because my mom had gotten me one and I thought she'd like me to use it... It didn't last long though.
 
I definitely keep a diary because sometimes it's just interesting to look back and remember thoughts and feelings I had at a particular moment in time. It works as a snapshot of emotions but purely for myself (probably because I can't believe how silly some of the things I thought about were! :eek: ). I sometimes put down a song title that helps me to associate with how I was feeling.

So any particular moment in time anyone wants to share? I'll start if you like....I once went down a huge water slide when I was 7 years old and was convinced I was drowning in about a foot of water! I wrote in my diary that my parents were terrible people for not jumping in and rescuing me!!!
 
That's a nice entry. The thing about online journals is that you can write things like that, and things you think are silly, and then you realise a lot of people think in the same way that you do.

I'll scan my diary when I have time and see if any decent entries stand out to bring back here - many of them, however, may not read very well out of context and with not knowing me...

Mxx
 
Okay, I found one already. This one was titled 'fences'

It was written whilst a friend was seriously ill in hospital, too far away for me to visit (she died not long after), and also at the time I met an online friend from Australia, whose visit to London was too short. enjoy...

23 April 2003 ~ Fences

Remember when you were little and you looked out onto a field thinking to yourself 'I wonder if anyone has travelled beyond the edge of this field and what adventures they had on the way?'?

The same days that you played in your garden pretending that three pieces of wood were a really cool den where you imagined running away to when things got bad in the 'house of grown-ups'. The place where you secretly stashed tinned food and bugs and made a sign saying 'no girlz allowed', yes, starting the interest of using a zed instead of an ess.

The garden was safe back in those days when you were small. It was the refuge that you knew no-one could touch you in. You knew that the bullies chasing you down the street would have to give up their pursuit if only you could make it past that fence. The place where the old ladies who you stole milk from every morning would have to suddenly become respective, prim, proper, people to speak to your mother instead of the snarling, flailing, cursing parasites that had erupted as you removed the milk bottle from their doorstep. The place where authoritive figures stood with a condescending glance with their shiny buttons and shiny shoes and their not so shiny uniforms as they lectured you on the dangers of setting fire to a junk yard - change of wind, field - stronger wind, train track - knowing it was you but not being able to prove it.

My garden.

My territory.

Mine.

But then you started growing up and the garden was seven steps of unwanted space. The field became the usual trek on the way back from your friends house, theresatraintrack, theresamilkbottle, theres a neglected bully on his old stomping ground - no adventures to be had. Not anymore. The whole town is too small when just four years ago it was a world of opportunity.

From then onwards you find that there is more to the world than the UK and more to the world than the world and so the world itself seems as tiny as the field did so long ago.

More adventures but just as small.

And then there are times like now when you can travel anywhere you wish to at a moments notice. Communicate with anyone anywhere in the world at any time of the day or night. Touch those closest to you when they are thousands of miles away.

Only it's times like these that the world is too big, the distance is too great, the communication devices are of no use to be able to reach out and touch and feel and hold those people that you really need to reach out and touch.

Feel.

Hold.

Mxx
 
Wonderful piece, Murphyz.

I've kept personal jounals, on and off, since about '79. As you can imagine, they span several books. I don't write in them everyday and I don't limit them to anything in particular.

They include everything from my personal feelings, current rants & raves, to my grocery shopping lists, sketches, and favourite song lyrics. I sometimes stick pictures or odd bits of memorabilia into them as well.

I suppose the only thing I worry about is that, one day when I'm dead 'n gone, my children might read one of my rants out of context - written when I was majorly ticked off at them for one thing or another - take it the wrong way and me not be there to explain.

Of course I could just stipulate in my will to have a huge bonfire of the stuff! :D
 
I also keep an online journal, but I prefer my book diary, for the main reason that other's won't read,...knowing that nobody else will read it, I put more openly, things I might never put in my online journal. Another reason I prefer a book diary is,..years down the road I want to be able to go back and read,..and after so many years it seems unlikely that my online journal would be around still..My online journal is more for a record of everything that happens rather than how I really feel...Ah well, both are very fun to keep up with, both get different things written in them, and both have different meanings for the people keeping them...that alone makes them noteworthy...
I sometimes stick pictures or odd bits of memorabilia into them as well
I do that as well, mostly just pictures and letters that are important to me...
 
I don't really keep a diary in any traditional sense. However, I have kept a copy of every letter I have written over the last 18 years. It functions quite nicely as a diary, and I feel more comfortable writing (even about personal matters) to someone.
 
I loved your entry Murphyz, especially the bit about what lay beyond the field.

I agree with Ruzi on this one, you can be a lot more open with a personal diary, you're free to say all the things running around in your head regardless of how mad they are.

Ell I think your kids would understand, I know if my mum wrote a diary and I read it I would definitely expect her to rant on about how I'd really annoyed her! :)
 
I am so terrible with journals. I buy a new one, use it for a month or two, and then get tired of writing in it. Wish I was more dedicated! I most certainly enjoy going back to read what I wrote. Any ideas for keeping myself motivated?

I'm so bad I nearly flunked a class in college because I didn't want to keep the required journal...granted, it wouldn't have done me a whole lot of good anyway...but still. :)
 
I am so terrible with journals. I buy a new one, use it for a month or two, and then get tired of writing in it. Wish I was more dedicated! I most certainly enjoy going back to read what I wrote. Any ideas for keeping myself motivated?
You sound kind of like me.. but I've gotten myself into the habbit fairly easily of writing in it every night. It might not work for you, but I got myself into the habit pretty simply. I went to the bookstore and got two journals. One was basic and plain and slightly ugly, the other was pretty, and I couldn't wait to write in it, write anything, it was so pretty I wanted to use it. So I told myself that before I could even open it, I had to fill up the one I didn't like. So I filled it up. Every night, every time I had something on my mind... now I get the pretty journal and an even better one after that ... I wonder if that makes any sense...I was motivated by the pretty cover.
 
I noticed that having an online journal (which I have now) seems to be easier to write in than a paper one, especially if you're online as much as I am.
 
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