Journals! (Of the diary variety, amongst others.)

This topic might be a bit controvertial for geek-value, but Im in the mood to write about it and its my blog so... deal with it. Read it or skip it :p

So... since I was little, I have kept some sort of diary/journal... I feel kinda silly each time I actually think about it, but at the same time it is kinda fun. People keep journals of all sorts of things. Work journals, project journals, etc etc, to keep track of what they are doing and the goals they are seeking to achieve in such things which is all very valid. But what about every day life?

I keep work journals when working, project ones when working on projects (such as my honours project), and I have kept a couple of holiday journals (More specifically me and Kat's honeymoon journal (nothing dodgy!) which is kept on display in the living room and that we occasionally flick through to reminisce)

From about 1991 I have kept a written journal of sorts. Admittedly, every time I take a look at one of these diaries from my childhood - it is embarassing... The crap I would waffle about beggars belief, but it helped my writing skills immensely and gives me something to look back on and reminisce. I was inspired by the likes of Sue Townsends Adrian Mole diaries (at least, the earlier ones. The later ones were too depressing to read.) and some other comical diaries like Mr Beans diary and "The Log" from Red Dwarf.

From about 2002 onward I decided to keep an electronic diary. I don't put entries in it often, I would guesstimate I put an entry in, on average, once per week. Sometimes it can be a month before I put in an entry, other times I can have a straight week where I update it daily.

So, lets be analytical. What are the advantages of keeping a diary?

Well, firstly - its a scrapbook of your life. I find that when I have partaken in an event, be it family, holiday, or just a random day - that by writing about it, I remember it better - and when I look over old diaries I can remember the day clearly. This goes back as far as the diary I was writing in when I was 9 - so almost 20 years ago.

Secondly - if you need to vent somewhere, or get your thoughts down, then it is a good outlet. I find when I look back at half my entries, if they are not a "log" of activities on a day or from an event, they irritate me... but I have them down and it helps me analyse things that have happened, or why I feel a certain why, or am affected by something in a certain way. It irritates the shit out of me when people "Emo-book" - basically putting a status up on a social site like Facebook to get attention then hiding from the responses whilst most likely keeping an eye on them to judge your self-worth/pity. That's what I use one of these for! I don't need the attention, I need the outlet or Ill go putting my fist through walls, head through windows.

There are some other advantages that I wont go into detail with, such as helping remember things if your short term memory is shot by updating it as things happen, etc etc.

Disadvantages?

People will read it. No shit sherlock - its human nature - if you have one of these and someone gets their mits on it, they WILL read it. Get used to it. If you want something that is truly private, keep an electronic copy, and password it up tight. But moreso, get used to the rule of self-censorship. There are some things that shouldn't go down, because Im sure there are certain circumstances where you would have to provide it as evidence or something in court by law, or you may leave the document open.

I remember when I was younger, my sister would keep sneaking my diary away to read it, and tease me occasionally on its contents, and more recently I found out my mother read it aswell. A bit embarassing, but also a giggle since I would never keep anything so serious in there that I would get in trouble for it...

Another disadvantage could be the time constraints and the "whats the point" factor. How often are you going to read it? Are you EVER going to go back and read it? Why put in the time?

Well, time commitment is minimal, you can sum up a day in a 30 second paragraph if needs be, or you can go into as much detail as you like (memory is cheap! Same cant be said for the paper diaries I used to keep!). You may find you appreciate the effort later on, moreso for being a log of important or special events that happen in your life, but it is also nice to just read back over a normal day and contrast yourself to then and see how much you have changed. (Its usually a good thing in my experience!)

So what about other aspects of keeping a log/journal/diary?

Co-authoring: Not a good idea for a "diary" - but it can work quite well as a log of activities in, for example, a holiday journal. Co-authoring could work in the instance of short term memory loss. I think it would be a fantastic day for family members visiting a relative with dementia/alzheimer's to make a little journal entry of their visit for the relative they are visiting to go over once they have left, perhaps updating it with images etc remotely.

Remembering loved ones? Pictures, remembering activities you done? Everybody's gotta go someday... it may make you sad to read about activities past, and see pictures, but I would rather that than have no way to remember them.

But yeah, I think I have waffled on. What can I say? I keep a diary! I have done for 20 years! No you cant read it. So:

fuck you! ;-)

Anyway - the majority of what I would say in a diary nowadays goes on facebook for friends and family to see, nothing really special is kept in it - its simply a log, where I can keep some scrapbook-esque pictures, notes and occasionally bitch to myself about whats pissing me off with life. The venting helps!

I recommend you try it ^.^
-V