my journals

I have kept a daily journal since 1999. What you see here is my proud collection, each journal holding on its pages the excitement and trauma and tragedy and hilarity of my life. Keeping a journal is one of the best things I’ve ever done, and for several reasons. Let me give, quickly and simply, three reasons keeping a daily journal is a fantastic idea:

Reliving. I can relive any moment in my life by going back to the date and reading the entry. Everything we experience is catalogued in our brains, but we are unable, for the most part, to access every memory. But the brain, upon being stimulated, will pour forth its memories. For example, if I open up to a single page and read something from the year 2000, then my brain remembers that day and the events that transpired. This can be exciting and rejuvenating, but it can only be depressing. In my weaker moments I turn to those times in my life when things were going much better, and by reading the entries I relive those moments, and it makes getting past them, getting over them, dealing with them, much more difficult. At the same time, however, reflecting on moments of tragedy and despair can help bring forth a renewed appreciation for the present.

Hindsight. Reading through these journals, journals that are often tear-stained, I can see where God has answered prayers. I can see how I have developed and matured with the years. I can follow my train-of-thought, my stream-of-conscience, and observe how it in its own has changed. I can look back and see how my perspectives have changed, and I know that one day I will look back on life now and reflect on how my current perspectives have changed.

Stress. Journaling helps reduce stress. Whenever I’m freaking out, or under a lot of pressure, or simply overwhelmed, I take a step back and lie on my bed and write in my journal. I write about everything I can think of—my hopes, my dreams, my frustrations, my fears—and in so doing it feels as if a burden is lifted off my chest.

Those are just three good reasons for journaling. And a fourth could be, An Accomplishment. These journals certainly are an accomplishment to me. Yet even more so, they have become an extension of who I am. I have been contemplating typing them out and saving them to disk so that if there is ever a fire—or something else equally destructive—I will still have the remnants. Yet there is a difference between holding something handwritten and something typed. One of my friends recommended I type everything instead of write it; “It would be faster, and it would be more secure,” he told me. He is right. But much of the beauty is in the handwriting itself, in putting the pen to the paper. It is a beautiful, majestic, wonderful and awing thing.