Diary / journal

I have kept a diary for most of my life and enjoy writing. In the past I have used it as a form of therapy. Writing out my problems etc. Now I have to get rid of them as I don’t want to leave them behind when I die.

On and off, I keep a gratitude diary and write three things I’m grateful for, even if it’s been a horrible day!

Recently, I have done it for short periods at key momens of my life.

I wrote a diary for a year when I opted for voluntary redundancy into retirement in my early 50s. I didn't want to give up what was a good and advancing career, but could see it would be in my best interests to take the money and run. I went back to university for a year and wrote a diary to help me process, this sudden and unwanted change in my life.

I also wrote a diary during the COVID crisis, from the start of lock down until 30 June 2022.

I keep a regular diary, but don't write extensively in it. Just reminders of what I am doing/ have done/etc. It's quite useful if I need to look back and check something.

I have kept a diary for years. I write (type) something each day. There are a couple of chests under my bed where they are kept.There are places in London who are happy to have diaries for research. I might send some of my earlier ones to them. My younger son knows my wishes. I certainly don’t want them destroyed. It is interesting to read through them.

It sounds really pathetic, but I record what we had to eat for lunch and dinner each day and who I rang or rang me.

Its so easy to think I spoke to x recently and then find it was 6 weeks ago. And I can make sure we aren't repeating meals too frequently.

Some thoughts I also record in the diary and of course appointments. I ditch them after a year or so. Apart from the one almost 30 years ago when both my parents were ill and then both died within 6 months of each other. Somehow I can't throw that one away.

I have a nice leather notebook which I started in 2009. I write in it randomly so there aren’t the gaps there would be if it was a diary. There are only half dozen empty pages left so I need to use them wisely.
Mostly personal, family, health stuff, poems I like, current affairs etc which might be of some interest to family later.
I was 60 when I began writing and read through it again yesterday, and smiled when I talked about myself as being old. Just as 15 years hence if I live that long I will look back to now snd see myself as not that old after all.
So here’s to enjoying the day we have. Today. Wishing us all love, peace and joy.

I haven’t used a diary, except for noting important dates, since I was a teenager. I wouldn’t want to leave the emotional baggage of my daily thoughts for my son to deal with when I die.

Germanshepherdsmum

I haven’t used a diary, except for noting important dates, since I was a teenager. I wouldn’t want to leave the emotional baggage of my daily thoughts for my son to deal with when I die.

Ditto GSM.

I have been keeping a diary, journaling since my marriage split, I think it helps me stay positive and get things out of my head where I can look at them more objectively, it has also helped me look at better solutions. So I'm going to keep going. I use my laptop and have not written it down, keeps in more secret.

Happy New Year everyone.
After reading all your responses I think I might give the diary another go. Makes sense in a way.

I have kept a diary for many years for appts, recipes,zoom calls, ideas quotes etc but not my thoughts.. they are private

I’ve written a Five Year diary for many years. They are fascinating to read back, even though at the time what I’m writing seems mundane. They’re also useful if I need to remember what happened on a particular day. I finished a diary last night, so have a new one to begin tonight. New ones are hard to find so I’ll start looking right away!

They are harder to find. I use a medium size diary for all our appointments etc and the last couple of years have had enormous trouble finding one. I wonder if it’s because most people use their phones….

I’m another who’s kept a diary in different forms since 1972! 5 year ones full of teenage angst, then annual appointments diary to keep on top of ante natal, clinics, jabs & school terms for DD etc.

Then purely for my own admin I’ve moved onto a daily note of all that I need to sort…from household drudgery (fiscal, culinary or hygiene) to social delights with family and/or friends.

This started on paper before smartphone before I realised the act of actually writing embedded the importance in my brain…so I’m back to a Filofax (otherwise known as the bible) which, as a good Gideon, lives on my bedside table and is never far from my person!

I keep a gratitude diary and write three things I’m grateful for, even if it’s been a horrible day!

Hollysteers snap! I just posted about this on another thread 😊

Blossoming

^I keep a gratitude diary and write three things I’m grateful for, even if it’s been a horrible day!^

Hollysteers snap! I just posted about this on another thread 😊

There’s always something to be grateful for👍

silverlining48

They are harder to find. I use a medium size diary for all our appointments etc and the last couple of years have had enormous trouble finding one. I wonder if it’s because most people use their phones….

most art shops have medium sized diaries

Plenty of diaries on Amazon

Thanks but don’t buy online and no art shops where I live. I always buy in supermarkets, pound or card shops etc and there’s been a noticeable shortage. I have found one but it’s plain black!
I just wanted to highlight the fact that other than pocket and academic year diaries there is little about. In my area anyway.

A gratitude diary is a good thing to do.

I am grateful no trees have fallen in this terrible wind,
I am grateful I have food in my fridge
I am grateful to have heat and electricity
I am grateful I found a black ( but boring ) diary.

I have seen diaries of various kinds in WH Smith. Certainly no lack of pocket appointmernt diaries around. A lot of charity shops have them.

I still use a diary to chronicle the comings and goings of my life, in the summer months especially I still have to keep a colour coded note of who is staying in which room and for how long - otherwise I would get totally confused when visitors arrive. All my appointments, husband’s business trips, childminding duties get recorded - plus ‘to do’ notes etc.

I have only recently discarded some of my older diaries and flicking through them transported me back to my university days, and to counselling and social work jobs. There were details of funerals and weddings I’ve had a role in, hospital stays, random notes about family and friends - reminders, gardening notes etc. I would have saved them except I know they were meaningful only to me and my children wouldn’t be very interested in their contents, having lived through the same events one step removed.

For Christmas 2019 my DGD1 bought me a very nice A5 notebook which started as a commonplace book and has become the repository for occasional short essays on life as it has become. There are only a few blank page left and I shall need to decide whether to continue or not. Writing my feelings down has become such a life saver, and in doing so I explore what I think about life in all its frustrations, sorrows and joys. Whether my descendants ought to read what I write is something that else entirely.

I have a bullet journal where everything goes. Books to read, places I would like to visit, medications, restaurants I fancy etc etc. It is indexed at the front so I can find things easily and I use it until it runs out and transfer anything important to a new one. I record habits, alcohol, yoga too.
Done this for five years and it is so useful! But I do love a list!!