lesley
Drama Llama
My best friend Turriff, desperately missed.
Posts: 7,194
Location: Scotland, Scotland, Scotland
Jul 6, 2014 21:50:44 GMT
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Post by lesley on Apr 15, 2015 21:14:27 GMT
For many years, I kept a diary. I might go months without writing anything, and then write for several days in a row; it all depended on what was happening in my life, good and bad.
This evening I came across my diary. I started it the day before my 20th birthday (I'll be 52 this year) and ran out of pages in 2008. It was really interesting reading some parts, really excruciating reading some others! I loved reading the things my kids said when they were little.
Without going into too much detail however, some details made me stop and re-assess my life at present. It turns out that for quite a long time, I wasn't as happy as I remember being. My rose-tinted nostalgia glasses have been well and truly removed, and it has made me happier being reminded of that.
Do you/have you ever kept a diary (as an adult)? Do you ever re-read it?
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The Birdhouse Lady
Drama Llama
Moose. It's what's for dinner.
Posts: 7,215
Location: Alaska -The Last Frontier
Jun 30, 2014 17:15:19 GMT
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Post by The Birdhouse Lady on Apr 15, 2015 21:21:49 GMT
I had toyed with the idea off and on, I ended up never doing it for a simple fact. I would have wanted to be 100 percent honest but, I would have died if someone read it. What if I had an untimely death and then someone in my family came across it and read about my deep dark secrets and they way I was feeling. I felt like it was too much of a risk so I never did it!
I really don't have anything to hide but you know how you feel sometimes about certain people in your life.
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MorningPerson
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,506
Location: Central Pennsylvania
Jul 4, 2014 21:35:44 GMT
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Post by MorningPerson on Apr 15, 2015 21:24:47 GMT
I'm so glad you brought up this topic. I've never kept a diary (except for a very short time when I was a teen - that diary was thrown out long ago!) and I've been thinking about starting one. I think I want to write it with the purpose of giving my kids and any future generations a glimpse into what life was like for me back in 2015 and beyond. Not that my life is all that interesting, but I really, really wish my parents and grandparents had written a diary/journal so I could "get to know them" better. I'm guessing future generations in our family might want the same. Re: the excruciating parts of your diary. Are they excruciating in a "oh, how naive I was" way, or is it more that you really don't want your kids, etc., to know those parts of your life. I only ask because I'm trying to decide just how much to put in this diary.
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Rainbow
Pearl Clutcher
Where salt is in the air and sand is at my feet...
Posts: 4,103
Jun 26, 2014 5:57:41 GMT
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Post by Rainbow on Apr 15, 2015 21:32:14 GMT
I had a diary as a child. Kid stuff was in it. I started one as a teen but alas nothing written down is ever really private from prying eyes. After I was violated in that way I vowed to never write down my inner most feelings ever, ever again. And I don't. People just can't keep their hands off other people's stuff.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Apr 15, 2015 21:41:20 GMT
I started keeping a journal not long before I met my BF, when I first started seeing a counselor for depression.
I typically 'write and forget it' and never go back to read any of it later. I did flip back through some of my angst-filled entries when we were first dating, and it sort of embarrasses me, to tell you the truth, that I could be so-- whiny? wishy-washy?? don't know what the word is that I'm looking for...
I think it's partly because my tendency to write is when things aren't going good, or when I'm conflicted about something-- if things are okay, I'm not writing in it. The same goes for my art journals... I don't typically ever go back and revisit those pages, either.
But that's just me; I know other people have differing opinions about why the keep a journal or diary, and what they do with it.
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psiluvu
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,217
Location: Canada's Capital
Jun 25, 2014 22:52:26 GMT
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Post by psiluvu on Apr 15, 2015 21:49:18 GMT
I did when I was a kid and teen but stopped after high school. I found them at my moms a while a go. When I was 11 in grade 6 I had a bunch of entries about this crush I had on this really cute guy whose dad was friends of my dads. They lived hours away and we only saw them once or twice a year but man did I ever like this guy. My kids get a huge kick out of the fact that I was writing about my DH. We saw each other very infrequenlty in middle school tehn lost touch completely in high school and university. 15 years later we met in a bar and have been together almost 20 years and married for 18.
Sorry long story short I did keep a diary if I had kept one in my 20's I would have burned it because I certainly wouldn't have wanted anyone to ready it.
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Post by withapea on Apr 15, 2015 21:53:44 GMT
I've been using an online diary for a few years. I think I missed two days last year. If I don't write that day, I'll write a recap the next. Sometimes my entry is barely a sentence or two, sometimes it's multiple paragraphs. I'm really glad I've done it. My settings send a reminder email with a random entry attached as well, I like to get that peek into the past because I don't go back and reread very often.
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Post by AussieMeg on Apr 15, 2015 21:59:48 GMT
When I was 11 in grade 6 I had a bunch of entries about this crush I had on this really cute guy whose dad was friends of my dads. They lived hours away and we only saw them once or twice a year but man did I ever like this guy. My kids get a huge kick out of the fact that I was writing about my DH. We saw each other very infrequenlty in middle school tehn lost touch completely in high school and university. 15 years later we met in a bar and have been together almost 20 years and married for 18. That's amazing, such a cool story!!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:08:36 GMT
I keep a journal with my bible to record things I want to remember or meditate further about and some prayer lists. I consider my blog a kind of diary.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Apr 15, 2015 22:13:53 GMT
I will say, though, that my Grandma kept a diary/journal for years (just spiral-bound notebooks), and I am so glad she did. She was born in 1906 on a farm in northwest Illinois, and it is really neat to read about what life on the farm was like, and life during that time. She went to Chicago to the World's fair (about 3 hours away nowadays, by car) on a train before she was married, she wrote about her experience camping and traveling to Yellowstone with a married couple (relatives, maybe), stuff like that.
It is fascinating to me to think about the experiences she had and the time in which she lived. She kept notebooks for years, and even if it was only a few lines about the weather, etc. there are snippets of 'Barb went to the hospital to have the baby (me, or one of my older sisters)' and those sorts of things... Sadly, I never really had a chance to ask her about any of those experiences once I was old enough to appreciate it, so I am glad my mom has the notebooks and Gram's photo albums. I hope that eventually I get them to preserve, and that I can find a historical society or museum that will want them someday.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:19:30 GMT
My mother had nothing on the CIA , but she could not keep her mouth shut to save her life. So no diary.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:20:24 GMT
I have journaled for years. I don't really think of it as a diary, because for me, that conjures up visions of middle school gushing about boys. But that's just semantics, really.
My journal does talk about some daily life things, but talks more about things I'm thinking about, problems I need to solve, etc.. Some things are work related, some are family related, some are friend related, some are self improvement related and so on.
I have found jouraling to be very useful over the years. It helps me work through things on a variety of levels. I journal every day for 20 minutes when I first wake up. I started doing that in college, after reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It's a great way to start the day with a clean slate.
My journal is now digital and it is not intended to outlive me. DH (and my best friend, who would handle stuff like this in case something happened to DH and me at the same time) knows it should be deleted when I pass. The old paper journals have been scanned, OCRed and are part of my digital journal.
It's simply not content I would want future generations reading. There's nothing scandalous about it, but I would write differently if I knew someone else might be reading it someday.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Apr 15, 2015 22:24:28 GMT
@busypea, I did that for a while, too... I couldn't do it first thing when I woke up, though, so I would do it a bit later. Again, though, I never look back at any of it. I write it, flip the page, and it's done. Sometimes I would even shred or destroy the pages.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:25:26 GMT
My father kept a daily log. Usually recording the weather , when he got checks , business meetings.
Once I looked at them. He wrote a lot of detail about my bother's birth but the only recording he did of mine, Brought mother home from hospital today.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2015 22:29:19 GMT
@busypea, I did that for a while, too... I couldn't do it first thing when I woke up, though, so I would do it a bit later. Again, though, I never look back at any of it. I write it, flip the page, and it's done. Sometimes I would even shred or destroy the pages. I never used to look back on it when I kept a written journal, but now that it's digital, I do. If something's on my mind, I will search on a term and see if it's something I've written about before. Sometimes that helps me see patterns - positive or negative - that I may not other have noticed.
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
Jun 26, 2014 18:26:03 GMT
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Post by tuesdaysgone on Apr 15, 2015 22:38:35 GMT
I kept a diary one year in college when I studied abroad. I'm so glad I did, because now (30 years later!) I've gone back and read it. What wonderful memories of the friends I made and all the places I traveled.
Today, nah. I'm with Birdhouse Lady, I wouldn't want anyone seeing my "deep thoughts." Probably boring as ever to anyone else, but still private.
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Post by Dori~Mama~Bear on Apr 15, 2015 22:47:45 GMT
Yes at times in my life I have. I remember having a diary in high school and while I was in my 20's then it was lost (I think my ex burned it) I started a new shortly after we split up. It was a good thing I did because I had to go back some years later and remember times, places and dates that I couldn't remember. I have a on going diary now but it has been a long time since I wrote in it. I would have to go back and look through the storage hard drive we have since this is a new computer and I haven't started one on here. which I will be starting one. I am going to be going to a lot of doctors appointments in the near future and I want to keep a log of the happenings that go on in the appointments. times, dates, questions answers. medications and everything else. tests and results. How I feel when going to the doctor and what ever else. I am also going to get back into therapy and I want to have a journal of that as well.
Those rose colored glasses can be scary when pulled broken. I have some emails between husband and I when we first met 19 years ago that I printed out and kept. It is fun to go back and read them every so often. In fact I saw them not long ago and stopped what I was doing and read a few of them. My daughter saw me reading them and asked what I was reading. I laaughed and said emails from Mark. She said really. I looked at her and read one. It was a silly email that he wrote me one day while he was working. she laughed at it. I had read her the time and date. and then the email. So now every time we are doing something and one of us thinks of the silly comment he wrote we start laughing. I am going to have to pull them out one day when he is home and read him some of them. I have a better idea. {insert evil laugh} I am going to email them to him. in random emails.
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Post by Minty118 on Apr 15, 2015 23:19:16 GMT
I've kept a journal since I was a junior in high school. It's a nice, "safe" place to talk about my feelings about people and things going on in my life without feeling like I am being judged. Some is funny, some is exciting and happy, and more from when I was dealing with depression after my twins were born, and more from having to deal with my narcissistic bipolar mother. I always feel better after I've gotten my feelings out. Friends don't always want to listen to you vent, but my journal has never let me down.
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Post by 5peanutsnana on Apr 16, 2015 1:53:52 GMT
I don't but my mom does. She started when she was in junior high and is now 89 yrs. old. I don't know how she had the time to keep it up while raising 8 kids, but she did. She also was the care giver for my paternal grandmother for 10 years after she suffered a stroke and was completely bedridden. On my mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary each of her kids read the page of her diary on the day they were born.
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Post by ilikepink on Apr 16, 2015 2:42:33 GMT
I've journaled for years. There are times when I write every day, and then I go weeks without a word. It is cathartic. Especially the last 5-6 years my life has been undergoing lots of changes, and having a safe place to put all my thoughts is much cheaper than therapy! I do go back and read on occasion; its great to see where I was and where I am. I actually read in 2001 how much I liked Savannah and that I would love to live there - and guess where I moved in 2010? had totally forgotten about that.
After I die, I'm not really going to care what friends/family think about what I was thinking or doing - perhaps my boys will understand me better.
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Post by Karene on Apr 16, 2015 3:30:05 GMT
I have a few of those small diaries with the lock on them that I used when I was 11 to about 14 years old. When I became pregnant with my oldest son, I started a journal detailing his life. I started another for my youngest. The idea was to give it to them when they were older so they would have a record of their lives as babies and youngsters. I haven't given it to them yet even though they are in their twenties. I kept it up until my oldest was about 10.
I have always planned on writing what my life was like, and my memories of growing up but I haven't gotten far with that yet. I did interview my parents and my in-laws about their memories of growing up and I find it very interesting. I also have an interview with my one grandmother and my other grandmother wrote down her and my grandfather's memories with the help of my aunt. My dad's cousin in Denmark wrote her memories of my great aunt (her mother), my grandfather (her uncle) and my great grandparents. It was very interesting because she didn't hide any skeletons! She also went back farther in time and wrote a really good family history.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 5:39:33 GMT
I have a diary of my first adventure to Japan. I haven't read it. I don't know what to do with it. It's 3 volumes long.
Has anyone successfully gone back and reread their diaries of the past? I don't want it public knowledge. There is nothing racy in it. I just don't want to read it.
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Post by disneypal on Apr 16, 2015 10:58:41 GMT
I started keeping a journal in my early 30s, when I filled up a book, I would put it in the top shelf of my closet and start another book. I don't write daily, just when the mood strikes me. this past December, I decided to clean out my closet, including the top shelf. I never realized how much I wrote. I have about 20 completed journals - each one is about 400 - 500 pages.
I put them all in date order and put them back on the shelf (after reading through a lot of them). I haven't written in over 6 months now...just things have happened in my life and I haven't had the compulsion to write about it all. Maybe I will get back to it soon.
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Post by lindah on Apr 16, 2015 11:28:39 GMT
I'm so glad you brought up this topic. I've never kept a diary (except for a very short time when I was a teen - that diary was thrown out long ago!) and I've been thinking about starting one. I think I want to write it with the purpose of giving my kids and any future generations a glimpse into what life was like for me back in 2015 and beyond. Not that my life is all that interesting, but I really, really wish my parents and grandparents had written a diary/journal so I could "get to know them" better. I'm guessing future generations in our family might want the same. I do not keep a journal, but my dh does.
However, my grandmother kept one, beginning in 1947/1948. I was born in 1949, so it is fun to read about me!
She & my GF owned & operated a hotel for many years & much of her journaling is about the business, who they hired & fired (she was tough to work for, evidently). The parts I enjoy the most are about their daily life, like how much entertaining they did, the parties they went to, the vacations they went on, etc. Tho even the things like the weather, who was sick, the streetlights that were out, who built a house, is just wonderful to read about.
There are many difficult parts to read, as well. My parents went thru a divorce, which was painful for me to read about. It just brought up sad memories. She wrote about my grandfather's illness that eventually ended his life. She wrote in those journals, one for every year, until just a couple years before her death in 1983.
I loved reading about what her life was like during those years. Those journals are very special to me.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 13:14:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2015 11:35:58 GMT
I start them periodically and then abandon them. I wish I just kept going in one, that way I would have a record of my life, with a few entries each year from over the years! Instead I have of a bunch of diaries with just a few pages filled in.
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Post by rhhdk on Apr 16, 2015 12:29:35 GMT
My grandmother kept a journal-type of thing, she bought a new garden-calender every year and used it as a diary - but no one know what she wrote, she died in her cabin unexpected and my dad and my aunt decided to toss them all at once because she was a very privat lady (they didn't even knew she had a heart-failure an was medicatet for it)and they didn't think she would like us to read what was in it.
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Post by gailoh on Apr 16, 2015 12:59:54 GMT
I don't keep one...my thoughts run a bit on the dark side...mostly when it come to me...there are times even now at my age I don't like me...and I wonder if I matter at all...know one wants to read that...but I can share it here...hugs to all...
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Post by pierkiss on Apr 16, 2015 13:10:54 GMT
I used to. I haven't in a long time. I just don't feel the need to anymore. When we moved I came across all my old diaries. I had them from about 7 on through grad school so 24ish? I re read some and they were so stupid that I threw a lot away. Man was I a grumpy kid! I kept the ones from senior year of high school and when I met my husband. Those are fun to reread. and I kept my original Ramona Quimby diary because it's pretty awesome!
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Post by candygurl on Apr 16, 2015 14:11:28 GMT
I kept one in middle and some of high school. For me, it's always hard to write down how I really feel because what if someone finds it and reads it? Even bsck then, I wrote with caution. Of course, I wrote about silly stuff but even if I mentioned a name I would worry of that person found out.
I'm thinking an online diary might be nice. Any good ones?
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,634
Jun 25, 2014 19:55:12 GMT
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Apr 16, 2015 15:01:13 GMT
No. I can barely keep a food journal.
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