So here's the thing I'm thinking about tonight... I love the idea of journaling, but the dilemma (for me) is that I have no discipline to see the thing through, so it ends up being something of a wasted effort. The positive in that is that they're kind of easy to pitch when I discover them years later.
On the other hand, the year I kept this one had some significant things happen and I found myself reading it and wondering if I should keep this one - for posterity? I don't know. Surely not for myself, since before I cracked it open I didn't even remember that I'd done a bullet journal during that significant year. To be clear the significant things were only significant to me.
So I'm curious... if you keep a journal of any kind do you hang onto it/them over the years? If so, for how long? If you don't hang on to them, what's the point of creating them to begin with? And lastly... is there anyone else reading this who's like me - the idea sounds good, it gets started with good intentions, but there's not enough discipline to actually see the thing through?
Like you I always wanted to keep a journal. It seemed like such a good idea. I would start one and then never continue mostly due to time constraints. I even wondered if I would ever last with a blog and even with that I have pondered discontinuing it many times. I have always ended up throwing away any journals. I think the best representation of life at our home is the picture albums. I do consistently and regularly put pictures in an album with dates...nothing more.
ReplyDeleteNow, I have been doing a paper journal since the spring before retiring teaching in June 2014. A particularly bad incident occurred that just required me getting it out on paper. I would have driven my family insane otherwise. I found it to be so therapeutic, so I started just a few times a month jotting down some thoughts. Some really hard events that I went through, but just life too...sometimes I just liked to write out things I was doing daily around the house. I have instructed my daughter what to do with them when I am gone. Ha! Right now they don't take up too much space. Will I continue...don't know. How's that for a very long comment and answer?
Thank you so much for these thoughts, Sandy! I've gotten away from printing out pictures - the last ones I had printed were when youngest son graduated highschool 5 years ago! I want to remedy that, but where to start? I have found writing about problems and quandaries a great way to get to the root of the issue. I have sometimes stumbled on these writings later and wondered if I should keep them because they were so helpful at the time, or if I should shred them because they would be hurtful if they got into the wrong hands. I'm leaning toward shredding. ;^)
DeleteOkay, as for the journaling. I have journaled 2 notebook paper pages a day for over 20 years. I was keeping them because Jim always said, "Please, Mom, save them for me because it will be all I have after you're gone. Well, he left first and my daughter has always said to burn them as there are things in them that might hurt people's feelings. She's probably right as I started those journals as The Artist's Way morning pages and it was my way of coping with the (family) drama and illness that was going on in my life at the time. So, now that Jim is gone and my children don't want to be reminded of that time when it was my feelings which were hurt....I will be burning them. I have always been one that would take it on the chin rather than hurt others even if it means holding in the truth. But those journals saved me and still do as no one wants to hear about how many times my heart has been broken and my lack of understanding of why. So, they have ended up being a journal of my feelings, questions, written prayers, goals, dreams and a quest to understand this life of mine and the people in it. Writing these pages has soothed me, allowed me to start each day with a clear head and heart and leave all the negatives on the paper. I must admit, living alone and journaling like I have has allowed me the peace and quiet to become closer to God in my opinion. I will continue to journal as it so much a part of my life but they will slowly but surely get burned!
ReplyDeleteI tried The Artist's Way morning pages for a while! I just came upon the books maybe 5 years ago. Are they as old as 20 years?!? You've got some wise words here, Sam - about journaling, how it served you, how it's brought you closer to God. I do wonder if your daughter will end up being curious to look into your heart and read some of what you've written. But if, in the end, your journaling served a good purpose for you, that is probably enough, isn't it? I enjoy reading just every-day journal entries from women who lived in very different times than we do. But somehow I don't imagine how I spend my days to be all that interesting to anyone in the future. But who knows? When everyone's flying around in their own little jet-cars, or shuttling back and forth between the moon and earth, maybe this time we're living in will seem curiously quaint, if not downright primitive in some respects. Thank you so much for sharing your heart here. I loved reading this and getting to know another little part of you, friend.
DeleteHi Becki :) I have journals for many different things. I have a cheese journal, which I will keep forever...a food journal with ideas and recipes, I don't think I'd keep that, a spiritual journal that yes, I'll keep and a personal journal. I have a drawer full of old journals, but in all honesty, when we move, they may go into the fireplace. I'm not one to re-read old stuff unless it's recipes and tarot card readings!
ReplyDeleteAh! This is another take on journaling that I didn't consider. I love these ideas, Rain, and I would think they would be fascinating journals for someone with the same interests to read through. There's a part of me that loves the idea of journaling various creative pursuits, but then there's that pesky lack of discipline that would likely see me with lots of half-filled journals. I wonder, in this case, if half journals are better than no journals? Food for thought...
DeleteI have a personal journal (completely filled up) that spans a number of years and records some wonderful trips we took. That one I have kept, and I think my daughters or granddaughters might enjoy having it one day.
ReplyDeleteI'm on my second journal done in a scrapbooking style which includes artwork that just speaks to me as well as ticket stubs, etc. I'm very bad about keeping up with that one, though I do very much enjoy working in it. I write all sorts of everyday trivia in it ... menus, holiday gatherings, simple recipes, what to do if the furnace smokes.
I have many, many blank books full of Bible studies and sermon notes. I thought I would pitch the ones with the sermon notes, as I almost never refer back to them.
I almost never jot down deep personal thoughts or feelings in a journal. If I had anything like that I probably would burn it when completed.
Thank you for sharing your different journals, Mrs. T. Your second journal described above makes me think of the elderly lady I sometimes care for. She has dementia and one of her favorite things is to look through photo albums. Except that she's beginning to forget who people are. I can't help but think if the pictures were labeled and there were captions, what a blessing they'd be to her. Caring for her has given me a new perspective on the value of journaling/scrapbooking that I wouldn't have considered before. I appreciate your last note, too. Occasionally I've come across something like you describe months or years after I've written it and I wonder if writing those types of things down is really helpful. Or even if I know it was helpful to write through something difficult, I have thought it might be better to destroy those writings later... Thank you again for sharing your thoughts!
DeleteI tried all kinds of journals over the years. The regular diary type that ended up in the fire because there were things and thoughts in there that even I didn't want to re-read or re-visit in my mind. Bullet journals with long to-do lists that had me freaking out after a few days because my to-do lists got so incredibly long that even Mary Poppins could never have got them all completed, not even with her finger-snapping abilities. The one tried and true method that worked for me this year was a "Yeah! Did it!" sort of book, with daily "done" lists and a few notes on things I was grateful for that day, like work days or appointments went better than expected, problems I was able to solve, or just small blessings like that little girl, a complete stranger, that greeted me on the street (had me smiling all day long). Next year, I'm going to get a regular agenda for my "done" lists, and keep a notebook for all my ideas and projects and things I want to learn more about. I love vision boards and project books, by the way. I've found that with bigger projects, it really helps me to break them down into small steps, and kind of visualize each neccessary step. That way, I don't feel overwhelmed that easily. I'm most certainly going to toss this year's journal and next year's agenda but will keep my project books, or if they get too messy, at least keep the pages I really like, and file them in binders.
ReplyDeleteElla, I love your "Yeah! Did it"! book. I'm thinking I'd probably fail in the follow-through on that, but I suddenly had an idea. You mentioning a little girl that made you smile all day made me suddenly envision using my phone (and the mic) to take notes in a notebook there. What a great way to capture something that happens when it's not convenient to write it down. I want to start keeping some sort of project record book. I jot ideas on pieces of paper all the time and then find them later. How much better to have one spot where I record these things. And your vision board reminds me I'm planning on putting some cork board on a wall in my new room. This should be a great place to stick notes and pictures until they can get recorded into something more substantial like a project book. Thank you for your ideas!
DeleteI have kept a daily diary since 1967 and in the beginning it was one of those 5-year books where you wrote two or three short lines. From there I 'graduated' to using lined notebooks (albeit pretty ones!). I write something about each day every night before bed and I have to admit most of it is more than yawn-worthy. I was lucky enough to inherit the daily diaries of both my gr gr grandfather and gr uncle and spent several years typing them up and then had them published. Fascinating stuff - the daily life of farmers. I wonder if one day someone in the family might find mine equally as fascinating....but somehow I doubt it!!
ReplyDeleteOh Mary Anne! You've done a daily diary since you were pretty young! A teenager, maybe? I would have been 8 in 1967 and I'm thinking you're only a few years older than me. What discipline and follow-through you possess. And what a treasure those diaries must have been to read, and now you've published them?!? I wonder if farmers questioned the value of their daily dairies back then? I have kept my calendars for many years now. Every year my husband asks if he can throw the last year's calendar away, and I rush to get it and stow it away where he won't find it. It's the closest thing I have to a daily diary - and it's hardly that. It's just a record of all the commitments I had (and saw through) in a year's time. Hmmm... since I have follow-through there, I wonder if I could use a calendar type format for keeping a diary of sorts...
DeleteThere are some hardcore journalers there. I've tried several times to journal to organize, etc. but all have been fails. I currently have one now to map out my audio podcast episodes so I'm at least making use of it and all the pens I had bought. The only thing is it's a dot journal, one I used to like, but now I'll switch to a lined one once I fill this sone up.
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