I’ve dabbled in diary writing and journaling for years. As a child (and also now), I loved notebooks, and so I had a lot that I would treat as a diary, but never with any kind of regularity. From sometime in middle school through, like, high school, I kept a LiveJournal where I wrote about what was going on in my life or what was on my mind. I slowed down and ultimately stopped in my senior year (also known as the Great Depression).
Sometime after that, I did keep a secret blog for more private stuff. My LiveJournal was totally public, but the secret blog was just me. I didn’t use it too much and fell off of it sometime in 2013, I think.
Finally, in 2015, I got really into pens and notebooks, so I bought a Moleskine and a bunch of Uniball Signo RTs in 0.37m (I’ve since switched to Pilot G2s in 0.38m since they’re more widely available). I guess I felt I was finally at a point in my life that I wanted to remember and record. I still have the same notebook. I don’t have, like, a regularly scheduled time or day that I write in it – it’s more whenever I’m going through something or need to get some thoughts down. Unfortunately that means most of the entries are real downers, and it can be a little shocking sometimes to read back through old entries and return to some dark places. But on the whole, it’s been a reflective and calming presence for me. I’m glad to have it.
Please do share if you practice anything similar or have at some point in your life! Curious what everyone else does.
