Journals

Post Reply
User avatar
wanderlust
True Gossiper
True Gossiper
Posts: 1341
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 6:36 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Journals

Post by wanderlust »

I've been keeping journals for a long time, so I thought it'd be fun to see what the people here think of the topic. I guess this is a tag of sorts for those who keep journals.

1. Do you keep a journal? If so, how long have you been keeping them? If not, why do you choose not to keep one?
Yes. I've kept journals since I was 11 (I'm 24 now) and there was only about a year of my life during which I didn't keep one.

2. Did anyone ever read your journal without your consent? If so, did this have an impact on what you journaled? Did you ever read anyone else's journal?

My dad read it when I was 13, claiming that he thought it was a "devotional book" since it had a spiritual poem on the cover. He just happened to turn to the page about him and I got in trouble. My sister read it when I was 18 and she suspected I was talking to an older man online. It took me years before I actually started journaling what I really felt again instead of just writing down surface details.

I read my sister's journal in retaliation for her reading mine. I wanted to take privacy away as she had done to me. When I was 14, I read my mom's journal from when she was in college.

3. What does journaling do for you personally?
It calms me down, gives me a clearer view of situations. I also thoroughly enjoy reading my journals years down the road and remembering many of the little details that I would have otherwise forgotten. Some things I don't really want to remember, but I don't destroy those pages because they remind me of how far I've come. I get embarrassed for myself when reading through my journals sometimes, but it's all a part of growing up and getting older. You live, you learn.

4. If you have children one day, under what circumstances (if any) would you read their journal?
I would never read my child's journal unless they were in immediate physical danger and I was extremely sure that reading it would somehow keep them from that danger. It is very unlikely that that would ever happen, so my answer is basically no. It is important for children and teenagers to have privacy and have a place to vent their feelings. The things written in journals are generally not meant for anyone else to read. I think it's so important for you to let your child know that you respect them and you're willing to give them their space and privacy.

5. How long do you want to continue to journal?
I'm not sure about this one. I'm guessing it'll really slow down when I have kids, but I still want to keep them. The tricky thing is that kids will sometimes go snooping and I'd have to have a safe place to keep it.

6. Share one other random thing about journaling.
My mom started keeping a journal for me several months before I was born and continued on through when I was in the 2nd grade. A few years later, my dad found it and stupidly showed it to me and my sister and started reading it to me out loud. My mom had been hoping to save it for my wedding day, which I think is the sweetest and cutest idea. She made a few more entries over the years before giving it to me when I was 20 and was moving out of state. I'll keep it forever and I'm so glad that she took the time to make those entries for me. It's crazy to read journal entries from my mom from a time when she was only a few years older than I am now.

User avatar
loopyloo
Master Gossiper
Master Gossiper
Posts: 2622
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:42 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Re: Journals

Post by loopyloo »

1. Do you keep a journal? If so, how long have you been keeping them? If not, why do you choose not to keep one?

Yes, I do. I used to write a journal when I was younger, but didn't write one for years and have recently got back into it.

2. Did anyone ever read your journal without your consent? If so, did this have an impact on what you journaled? Did you ever read anyone else's journal?

No one has ever read my journal and I wouldn't read someone elses without their permission as I think it's such a violation.

3. What does journaling do for you personally?

It's a way to work through issues. When my mother died writing in my journal kept me sane.

I also want to journal so I will have a record of my life. When I look back to what I did ten years ago I often find I have forgotten something or can't remember exactly how I felt in a particular situation.

4. If you have children one day, under what circumstances (if any) would you read their journal?

Only in extreme situations. For example, if they were showing signs of drug abuse or I had suspicions they were being groomed by someone. Otherwise, I wouldn't read it. I'm not sure whether it would be very useful anyway. Young teens do tend to use a lot of hyperbole when it comes to their feelings so you could end up thinking your teen is really screwed up when they were just being a bit OTT.

5. How long do you want to continue to journal?

All my life. I think it's amazing when I have seen journal collections of famous people that span decades.

6. Share one other random thing about journaling.

It takes ages to find a pen you like!

User avatar
HattieChaos
Naughty
Naughty
Posts: 1821
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 10:53 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Journals

Post by HattieChaos »

1. Do you keep a journal? If so, how long have you been keeping them? If not, why do you choose not to keep one?
I started a journal when I was 8 and gave up on it when I was about 12 because it became far too difficult to write down stuff about when I was experiencing abuse at home, etc. I ended up lying in my journals and creating some sort of story about how I wish my life actually was. I'd invent a loving Mother, loving Father, etc. It just became lies so I didn't see the point in doing it anymore. I'm 16 now, and I regret giving up. I intend to start again soon.

2. Did anyone ever read your journal without your consent? If so, did this have an impact on what you journaled? Did you ever read anyone else's journal?
I've never read anyone else's journal. My Mum, Primary 7 teacher, and Primary School Headteacher have read it, haha. I was 11 and I brought it into school. Every Friday, we had this time at the end of the school day when we'd bring in our toys and play on them etc. Everyone else had gadgets and stuff, like cool phones and gaming consoles and really awesome things that I didn't have any of, so I'd bring in my journal and sit at the back writing in it. Sometimes I'd just draw stuff and doodle. One day, my teacher got curious about what was in it so that Friday morning while I was in PE with the rest of the class, she apparently went into my bag and took it. Apparently, it was fair ground to take it since I had brought it into school. She read it, and let's say.. There wasn't exactly nice things about the teachers in that book haha. Though I did write nicely about her because up until this point I really did like her, I hated my head teacher and had wrote loads of bad things about her basically slagging her off. So my teacher showed her, despite having nothing bad written about herself, and I got excluded. Honestly, I got excluded from school. For 3 days. They noticed the stuff I had written about my abusive home and they didn't believe me about it, but confronted my Mum and showed her. That helped to make things worse at home.

That was probably a large part of why I stopped.
3. What does journaling do for you personally?
It calms me down too. It would make me realise how silly I'm being in certain situations/if I'm overreacting etc. Sometimes I'd read over what I had written and realise things about myself and about situations I had been in. I think it's quite healthy, in that regard.
4. If you have children one day, under what circumstances (if any) would you read their journal?
Like the posters before me have said, purely if they were in some sort of danger and I was almost certain that reading it would help get them out of it,
5. How long do you want to continue to journal?
I'd like to start up again soon, and for as long as I can. I don't think I will start immediately because there's far too much of a risk of Mum seeking it out as she would when I was younger. So I reckon I'll wait till August which is when I'm going to move in with my best friend in England. I could always do it on my laptop in word documents, but then I'd be paranoid I'd break it and lose everything.
6. Share one other random thing about journaling.
If you start at an early age like 8, prepare to be severely embarrassed if you choose to go back and read it, haha.

Angie V
Master Gossiper
Master Gossiper
Posts: 3534
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 6:52 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Re: Journals

Post by Angie V »

1. Do you keep a journal? If so, how long have you been keeping them? If not, why do you choose not to keep one?
Yes. I have been keeping them since grade school, like 5th of 6th grade is when I remember I kept them, but it might have been even earlier.

2. Did anyone ever read your journal without your consent? If so, did this have an impact on what you journaled? Did you ever read anyone else's journal?
No, not to my knowledge. But I have read passages to my best friend and I have let her read certain passages when I was feeling down about something and didn't want to speak the words why.
My parents don't really speak English so they wouldn't be able to read it anyway.

I have never read anyone else's journal.


3. What does journaling do for you personally?

Hm... I guess it is an outlet about my whiny, stupid feelings that I either don't want to bother other people with, or it provides a friend when they are nowhere to be found, if that makes sense. Also, I track what I eat in there sometimes when I feel like I've been eating junk and want to get back on track.

4. If you have children one day, under what circumstances (if any) would you read their journal?

I'm saying no now but if they were in trouble, like missing or something, I'd read it to see if I can figure out how to help them. But if they weren't in actual physical danger, I'd definitely try talking to them first or sending them to the therapist/counseling if they didn't want to talk to me. My parents made the mistake of always ignoring my feelings or behaviors and that didn't turn out so well so I don't want to make the same mistake.

5. How long do you want to continue to journal?
I don't know, probably until I have nothing to write about or when I actually find someone real (like a husband) to confide in.

6. Share one other random thing about journaling.
Hm random...
The journal I have now was given to me by my sister (who is 4 years older) for my last birthday (22nd), which is funny because I was just about to buy a new one. She got herself a matching one, lol. I love it so much because not only is it beautiful and I love the color, but also because she gave it to me because she knew that I like to keep them. It's just the fact that she even noticed that makes it special to me.

I have filled so many that I can't keep count.

Also, I keep a book of letter written to people, places, things, ideas, myself, etc. It's things that I could never send to these people or things that I want to say but can't, but I need to put it out there in the world somehow. It's like... 300 or so pages at least and almost filled.



I think you mentioned this, I have a really difficult time writing down my actual deep thoughts instead of just surface junk because I'm always scared that someone will read them. I am only now beginning to dig deeper, and it took countless journals to do it.
imma ball til the day i fall

Post Reply

Return to “Writing”