Journaling - The Write Stuff For You?

I have heard and read a lot about journaling and how helpful it is. However I am leery about doing this for a reason. I do not want to put down my innermost thoughts on paper for fear that someone might read them after I am gone. Is this a legitimate fear?

I understand the fear of someone reading my journal, and while I love journaling, I'm not sure I'll continue writing.

@thisismarilynb @gingerw @mir123

@ginnysnow Do what you love. No matter what it is. It will help you feel better, I promise!
Ginger

@gingerw

Ginger, I understand that journaling can be a great outlet, but I feel like it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, especially when trying to find the right prompts or structure. It can feel like there's so much pressure to make each entry perfect or meaningful.

@ginnysnow Please be gentle on yourself! You are writing for you, not for an audience, not for a person other than just yourself. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be grammarly correct, it is just something that you want to write down. I bet there are others here who would agree with me and they may also chime in!

There are no Journal police, remember that. I have also struggled with just what to write down, but sometimes just getting started and putting pen to paper is all I needed to do. Start out by writing what is the weather outside, and go from there. How does it make you feel, and it will often lead off in other directions. Take a quote you saw and write about that. Use a different color pen if you want, or use your non-dominant hand. That's always an interesting experiment LOL
Ginger

I wrote my first poem when I was 5 years old. It was a fascinating discovery to see how 26 letters could be arranged into a seemingly endless variety of words, describing my world around me and what was going on.

It wasn't until I got out of high school that I discovered my father had been keeping a journal since his junior high school years. He even made a special wooden box to hold his paper and pens. He chronicled many moves, a mother's death at his young age, and his time serving in the US Navy during WW II on the USS Enterprise. He also kept detailed daily postings of weather on the header of each page of his books, and the goings-on of his marriage and growing family. He kept track of his kids as we ventured off and started our own lives, and told of the heartbreak of my mother's dementia and her long-tenured journey of Silence. I had always hoped to receive his journals after he passed, but it was not to be.

So, I guess my journaling came generationally to me. Over the years it was natural to pick up pen and paper, recording what was going on in my heart/head/world/life. My poetry and observations on life are in a separate book, or books as it may be. My journals where my soul gets poured out, are in their own. I have written about heartache and heartbreak, job insecurity, and the everyday things that everybody goes through. I have written my way through natural disasters, cross country trips and camping, illnesses and the discovery of who I think I might be. I write in longhand mostly or print. I choose not to use a computer because then it is so easy to hit the delete key and erase what you're truly saying! Besides that, I took some handwriting courses so I can look back at old entries and see what my thoughts really were and where my head really was at. Very enlightening!

I am looking forward to hearing from others.
Ginger

@gingerw there's a lot to be said for putting pen to paper because just the action of that helps you become present in the moment- it's very calming to focus your mind on only what your hands are doing - so its very therapeutic on many levels- and having to sit in what your feeling and process any troubling emotions in a way that you can convey into words and letting them out - its got to be so beneficial for our emotional well being.. and recording little details that would've been lost in time and forgotten- what a joy for a distant family member in generations to come to connect with you because they get passed down their great great grandparents journals.. like a time machine fir them to step into and come back to get to know you

@gingerw there's a lot to be said for putting pen to paper because just the action of that helps you become present in the moment- it's very calming to focus your mind on only what your hands are doing - so its very therapeutic on many levels- and having to sit in what your feeling and process any troubling emotions in a way that you can convey into words and letting them out - its got to be so beneficial for our emotional well being.. and recording little details that would've been lost in time and forgotten- what a joy for a distant family member in generations to come to connect with you because they get passed down their great great grandparents journals.. like a time machine fir them to step into and come back to get to know you

@visibleghost33
I wouldn't want anyone to ever read my ramblings. Perhaps especially thinking of that in generations to come Yikes! I'll journal only occasionally when I'm having conflict of some sort. It really helps me get to the bottom of what I am feeling and get some kind of resolve. For instance I had been complaining to a friend about a disagreement I had with someone. She stated that I'd been having the same disagreement with this person since she knew me. I was sure this time was different. I started dating and journaling the conversations I had with this person. Seeing it written down I realized how often these conversations took place and how difficult this person was with me. I had been able to overlook so much until I saw it written. Sometimes writing when I was pissed off with someone, as I would write, I would get clarity. I really want pissed off at all but my feelings were hurt. The writings weren't always pretty. Plenty scratched out and rewritten. Writing what sometimes wasn't very legible but rereading and making changes. Writing things out can bring a change in perspective.