College Students! discussion
Life (Non-college/book talk)
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Journaling
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I use to always journal as a younger child/teenager. I was always afraid someone was going to read it. When I started to get busier in high school I would be inconsistent with journaling. However, in high school, I made the COOLEST journal by cutting out things that represented me or that I liked and putting them on the cover of the journal. I also would sometimes on a particular day find a picture out of a magazine that represented how I felt that day. My senior year and freshman year in college I started journaling via the internet with things like freeopendiary & xanga. Since then, I have been terribly inconsistent. I wish that I would have journaled through these times because alot of huge things have happened, like my mother's battle with cancer and her death, and I would have liked to have a way to channel all my emotions..other than vodka & god knows what else. I also would like to have those emotions written down on paper for later on in life. I wrote very few things during that time. Maybe I didn't want to deal with it..i don't know.
This was a good thread, Jamie. This is what I wrote (it was in response to someone in the group who was too paranoid to start journaling again):
I am a journaler, but at the same time, I know exactly how you feel Holli- when I was in middle school I came home to find my mom and dad had found- and read- my journal. I was SO upset, especially because my mom had the nerve to say, "its my house and nothing is secret from me... besides you weren't really hiding it that well" (i kept it under my pillow) but still, are you kidding me?! what kind of parent says that? I'm big on privacy, but I could understand if as a parent you thought something was going on with me, but I was a good kid and gave no sign of any trouble! I was furious and didn't keep one for a long time. Then I realized I'm a writer at heart and that I have to write things down as a way of emotional purging so I started another one. I won't say that I wasn't paranoid about people reading it, but I carried it everywhere with me to make sure it wont happen.
I also used to write a note in the beginning warning who-ever was reading that they were a terrible person and that they should stop reading... Now I keep my journal with me and if I leave it out sometimes at home I don't worry about it because if it were to be read I'm old enough now to argue about their ethics about invasion of privacy.
All that being said, I say you start writing again! Its understandable if you're still a bit hesitant, but you'll feel a lot better once you have an outlet for getting your feelings out :)
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i used to have a diary when i was younger. other than that i don't really journal..i could never get into it.
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i wish i would have kept mine. it was great..it had one of those stupid locks on it that you could easily bust open without a key.
i have a journal that i tend to update every now and then but wow i havent written in it for so long!! lol my life seems like it has huge holes in it when i read what i have written. lol
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that and i tend to always want to start anew..sooo ill buy a new one and start in that one..and then the same thing happens..so i have like a zillion journals with so many different parts of my life in them that even i get confused!! lol
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when i was little..i had the COOLEST journal..haha or so I thought..it was purple and had all these spiders and stuff on it..it was a "Goosebumps" journal..haha.
i had one that i literally almost finished!! but then i have never came close since. lol it had tigers on the front of it..cuz i love tigers. you know that im sure you saw the pics of me and the 2 white tigers on my myspace..
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haha seriously? you would be scared?! i am actually kissing one of them on the nose. lol they are my buddies. that was always my dream i literally sat on the ground and cried when i got there and got to sit beside them. lol its shocking to realize your dream came true..
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actually my cousin in winchester is best friends with the owners daughter. so i can see them anytime i want!!! so im very lucky. and the owner loves me cuz im just like my cousin so he said i can come up anytime.
When I was little I used to ask people to read my journals. EEk! Not so much the case now. I will burn them the day before I die. Iv'e finished about 8 books since I got serious about writing (around senior year of high school) and my journals have become combination scrapbook/sketchbook journals. I write to think through my thoughts and keep all my project ideas in the books. I also do a little bit of short story writing in them. When I get around to editing them I will probably type them up.
so again i havent written in any of my journals lately but sometimes i do find time to type on here and put things in my writing section of my profile..lol
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i journal pretty much regularly. I mostly do it before I go to bed at night.
Nothing is stopping you...Go for it!
i blog on myspace sometimes.. i'm pretty open with what's going on with my life. i've learned it best not to keep secrets :)
I used to write daily; the reminder of my adolescent angst proved too much to handle- or to condone. I still write whenever I have something to say to myself; something I want to remember years later; anything that proves such a vehement feeling that I simply MUST write.
And I almost always write after I finish a book. It usually rocks my psyche. I have to make room for all the feelings I just shared, and the new ideas I must now incorporate into my own being.
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Good! I always felt psychotic for doing that. It's nice to know you do too!
Aw! Thats a good idea, Kate and Jamie. I'm always so moved and always have something to say after reading a book, so it only makes sense to write about it after.do you guys write about anything in particular ? Like do you summarize plot and all that, or do you just write what you feel?
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Same here. It's definitely not a review piece. Sometimes you wouldn't even be able to tell that a book was the catalyst at all. I mean, I can. But that's cause I wrote it, of course.
good to know... I think I'll try that w/the next book I read :)
I used to journal all the time when I was younger. I look back at it and laugh, but some of it is so sad! I journaled a lot when I was a teenager in my deadjournal (I was a rebel, so I didn't have livejournal haha). Nowadays, I really wish that I had written at least something every day, just to help me remember and look back on the times I've had, but I never keep up. I blog on myspace every now and again, but it is by no means consistent. I do keep a book quote journal though. If I find something that I really relate to, or is really profound or hilarious or sad or true, I will write it down in my book quote journal. I don't think I've ever gotten more quotes out of a book than Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I finished it last night, and now I have to put a ton of quotes from it in my journal! I think The Book Thief comes in second with the number of quotes I took from it!
I've journaled on and off throughout my life. When I was a freshmen in college a friend journaled all the time and told me that she had written about me which made me happy. So I started journaling but then stopped. Also during my freshmen year, my fav lit professor told me that I was a really good writer (I don't know where he gets that idea b/c I don't think I'm that good; although growing up I did want to be an author) and he encouraged me to journal. I have trouble being consistent. I think I'm kinda ADD sometimes. But I found a really cute journal the other day (the jumbo journals at walmart are awesome. I got the owl one :]) so I'm going to start again.But I find myself getting in the tedious task of listing what I did that day. I mean, it's fine, but I get tired of writing about it. Like, I'm busy, but not particularly busy in a cool way.
Also, I have pretty sloppy handwriting (especially when I'm writing in a hurry) and usually my thoughts are coming so fast that I can't slow my writing down. So it's just so ugly looking. I perfer typing b/c I'm quick at it and it's easier to insert thoughts at different places, but I'd like to have a real physical journal instead of blog.
When I get into talkingabout my feelings in it, I feel like it's too sad and too depressing. Do I want a record of that? What do yall think? And how do you keep consistent?
Oh and on craftster.org there was a thread about journaling and I got some really cool ideas from a lady. I think I'd like to include more quotes b/c I do love them and also maybe have a playlist (or at least song) of the day? Here's the link: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index....
That crafster.org thing is absolutely awesome! I stopped journaling because I got bored with it, but with this type of journaling, I will definitely not be getting bored. I can't wait to start! =)
a hint about that craftster link - on the top of the thread there is a button that says "show images only" that will cut out the chitchat and just show you the scanned pages. That way you don't have to click through like 20 pages.
I'm so excited to try making my own journal too! They look like so much fun!
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a) spiff up a journal it will make you more likely to write in it
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b) if you try to make a consistent time each day so it becomes part of your routine then you will get in the habit of going to your journal and writing
thanks for sharing that link! such great inspiration!
Lynn, I agree 1,000% with everything you said about consistency, handwriting, and tediousness of the day... typing is easier and quicker for me, too, but theres something about having an actual journal that makes the nostalgia more meaningful.
makes me want to go write in my journal now!
So I have been journaling consistently for the past 4 days! I'm proud of myself! I've been using the craftster example as a go-by but I'm also trying to keep it casual and flexible. I'm even thinking about adding a new section - a "two things" section like the one in this group! I might add it if I have days where I don't have much to write about (which is rare. haha. My writing is like my speech - too much, too fast)At first, it is a little hard for me to make myself start writing. But then I find myself really enjoying it (even with the hand cramps. I take several little breaks to remedy the situation) So yay!
I have a question:
Who do yall write your journal for?
I'm writing so I won't forget things that have happened in my life... so I can flip through it tomorrow or flip through it in 20 years and know exactly who I talked to and where I went and how I was feeling.. I think it will help to spark my memory.
But I'm also kinda writing it for the next generation. I kinda doubt I'll have kids (but who knows!), nevertheless, maybe somebody would like to read it someday and ponder life in the 00's! If this is the case, maybe I should remember to talk a little more about what's going on in the country and world rather than just in MY world.
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Yeah, I always say that I wish that everyone was required to keep a journal. I'm really into doing genealogy research, and I think it would be completely awesome if I had a couple of journals to read. So I write in my journal for myself, to look back on times in my life that I probably will forget, but I also write it for my future children and on down the line.
in middle and high school i wrote in a journal everyday.it was almost a scrapbook of sorts, because i would write song lyrics in it, cut out magazine stuff, add in lots of different stuff.
once i graduated, i just got really busy and never kept up with it.
i would really like to get back into the habit of journaling, but it sometimes seems just like another thing that has to be done. and i want to journal because i enjoy it, not because i 'have' to.
i noticed that there are writing prompts posted here- maybe that will help be get back into it.
I have never been able to keep a journal for more than a week..it's a curse!
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I'm looking forward to making something like this!
I have a diary from my teen angst days, where I was miserable and wanted to die and normal teen angst stuff. I'm trying to decide what to do with it. I'd die of embarrassment if anyone ever read it, especially future children. But I don't have a good place to hide it.In my current journal, from time to time, I write things to my future children, explaining a situation sometimes. I'm working under the assumption that my kids will want to find and read my journal like I want to find and read my mom's. I think it's important for them to know that I was a person once before I became "just a mom."
That's a really good idea Lori! I'm actually terrified to become a mom because I don't want to be just a mom, you know? I want to be someone my kids look up to and know that I still have dreams and goals I want to achieve in life.
I always found that my journaling comes when I'm happiest in life. I wish I written more when I was depressed and went through some really hard spots because it might have helped. I just never could get myself to do it. Plus, I think there was the fear my parents might find it. I wouldn't mind if they had decent reactions to the stuff they would find, but they can be really harsh sometimes, my mother especially. Like I just got home a few days ago from visiting back where I grew up and I met up with this guy who I started talking to again a few months ago. I had met him a couple of months before I moved from Maryland to Kentucky so our relationship had been denied. This school year though he's been there for me and we've grown really close. I was perfectly happy not to talk to my parents about it, but when I got back from seeing I really wished I had a mom to say 'I really love him!' too... I tried getting the conversation going, but she went really silent and avoided the talking about him. My dad was cool when he found out and was really happy for me, which was awesome.
In the past though when I've opened up I would often be told I was being stupid or just to shut up. Though, the times I felt like opening up weren't often about someone bullying me or something else clear cut. I had those locked up tight because I was to ignore them.
I think it's fun though to look back at some of them. I just started writing again in one I bought a year ago. I reread a part where I was talking about a guy I was infatuated with and it helped shine even more light on why I really love the one I'm not exactly with now. Not exactly with because it's long distance and I refuse to deny either of us the oppurtunity to grow in another relationship, unless we can really be together. Though I only got to see my man one night and a lot changed just then. I grew A LOT! He and I are like each other's counslers its cute and funny, but at the same time really important and perfect. (sorry for spelling)
Erin, I know what you mean. I have a hard time telling my mom happy stuff too. I'm so happy for you that you've found someone (the boy) to talk to like that.
It's one of those happy things that starts me on journaling again lol. I aws just thinking like five minutes ago about doing some. I've done the picture and story thing too in mine. Actually the journal I'm using right now has a story in it. Not completed by any means because I tend to go series instead of short story... I really need to post some of my stuff up here. Perhaps I'll do that here soon.
I always journal about the sad things for some reason. But not this year. This year I want to write at least once a week.
I do it right before bed before I read. It's easier to get into if it's a daily ritual. I think I skipped last night. And I think journaling about the sad things is the best because you are getting rid of all that tension.
Do any of you journal? How often? Do you do it via the Internet or in a notebook? Have you ever had any bad experiences with "privacy" issues and people reading your journal? Has journaling helped you to get through some rough times?