Do you have a Diary?

Rayne

Hi ladies (and those few gents)

I know it sounds childlike but I was wondering what are your thoughts on diaries, like personal ones where you write down your thoughts, feelings etc.

I have a day to day diary (love my little filofax) but was thinking about having a personal one.

I like the idea of having somewhere I can scribble down what I want, sometimes there are things that go on in my head that I would like to write down.
Its not that I don't want to talk/tell people, but its often just useless information for me.

So I ask you, do you own a diary?

Nervous Wreck

I don't have a diary but I do like to write things down to clear them out of my head and arrange my thoughts. It's kind of a sporadic thing but when I feel the need to write stuff down and get it out of the way, I do so in a hardback notebook that I generally keep in my bag (which I pretty much always have with me). It's cathartic.

kzky321

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

when I feel the need to write stuff down and get it out of the way, I do so in a hardback notebook

I do the same. It hasn't been a regular thing in years, since my teens I guess, but every now and then if there is something bothering me, writing it down and getting it out of my system so to speak is very helpful.

WesternNight

I don't have a paper diary, but I do have an online one.

shellyboo

I used to have a diary, but not since I was a teen. It's something I should take up again, it's definitely a fantastic way to deal with things and I'd love to get back to writing longhand.

liah

I just use my blog for that, albeit I don't update often.

Creamy Goodness

not a diary as such. i don't sit down and write off "dear dairy, i saw X again today, she's so dreamy..."

i do have a diary type book that i started 9 weeks ago where if a thought comes into my head of a time i spent with a close friend of mine i'll rush to the book to write it down so i don't forget it...

the last such thought was a conversation we had about concert tickets. my friend said there are only three things a guy needs when going to a concert and you're not taking photos for the band.
1. phone.
2. keys.
3. wallet.

i then said what about your ticket, and we both got into a discussion about how **** it is that tickets for ticketmaster events never ever fitted into your wallet. so we were going to buy tickets for a gig in the village (the spinto band were playing) and we bought the tickets in wav box office and we actually started crying from laughter because we had only discussed the ticketmaster tickets the day before and when we bought the tickets for this gig, they were like american styled tickets and fitted perfectly into your wallet.

anyways i've slightly gone off the point. i don't have a diary for day to day stuff, i rather just keep that to myself or it usually forms the basis for songs that i write which again i don't write down for fear of people reading them, but i have this book which i will always keep and always add to.

maameeo

i had diarys for years, only stopped when i had a child and no time to write it, its great reading back over them!
its amazing how much you forget in your life! iv been thinking of starting one again, but it scares me to put my thoughts on everything in my life to paper. when i was younger i didnt care, i dont understand why i feel differently now

maybe i should just do it!

Will

just has one entry;

"Dear diary,

Jackpot!"

Seriously though, have a blog that I record my thoughts in from time to time, dates back about 4 years. Has about 1,200 entries or there abouts.

skywards

No, I have a brother that regularly rifles through my room. I don't need another excuse to strangle him. Well actually I do, but it'd get ugly.

Jessibelle

'I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train'

Seriously, I had a regular one I used to get through some times a few years back, but subsequently burned them. Now I have a hardback notebook I use to jot down ideas/work stuff out but it's not as formal as a diary.

Jay P

I kinda do. I bought it so I'd write down stuff I wanted to remember and some thoughts I have about stuff. But lately in the last few months I haven't written everything. Looking back, I wish I had, for both good things and bad things that happpend. I might just start one on my computer...

takola

I'm not really careful enough to have a diary. I know I'd leave it down somewhere it shouldn't be or I'd lose it.

Also, I wouldn't be fond of the idea of writing my thoughts down or reading them after. It would be cringeworthy for me. Especially if I've thought/acted stupidly at the time. Which I do. A lot. Or at least it would seem like a lot if I was reading over it again and rolling my eyes at myself. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

The Big Red Button

No. I had one once for a couple of weeks when I was about twelve, and had it hidden under my mattress (original), but then my sister found it and took the piss out of me for ages after about something I had written in it. Never again!

My two best friends have always had diaries since we were kids though, and still write in them very regularly. Sometimes they let me read bits of them too, which is really cool! It's mad seeing what goes on inside peoples heads.

Agent Smith

I has a Blog, However i never really kept a Diary really.

G86

I have a journal I carry around with me, write in it every now and then, so it's pretty much like a diary I guess

stovelid

Beware. OP is a ruse to smoke out 12-year olds posting on boards.

Abi

No, never kept a diary. Reading back my sins to myself doesn't sound very appealing :pac:

julien05

imagine everyone kept a diary. wow. some ppl keep diaries of others and then total recall and then total vindication and then....kudos kudos, ur the best. burn the rest. can i be in ur f. gang!

Xiney

I kept many diaries from when I was 9 or 10... I had to keep them locked and triple hidden though because my sister was huge on storing up ammunition against me to deflect any anger from my mother. twit.

I have a major list habit though. As such I always have my notebook with me - and I'll write down dreams I've had and photo ideas or story synopses (which I never write because I can't write) alongside grocery lists and lists of what to ask the doctor about and to do lists. So while it's not a diary as such, it is a pretty good picture of my life.

rannerap

i have a live journal that i post in sometimes to remember stuff,I have never once looked back over it though,and i dont plan to for a very long time

pops

I've kept one since I was about 12. I am nearly 40 now with 3 kids and don't get to write in it as much as I would like. It is great for when I'm worried or anxious about something, however the entries now are sporadic and a lot less intense than they were in my teens and twenties.

I would recommend it to anyone though.

xoxyx

I just have a MS Word document that I open up every now and again when I want to keep a record of my thoughts. It goes back about five years and it's fascinating to read back over the things that I thought were important then and that I've forgotten all about now. Sometimes there's a week of entries every day and then sometimes there's gaps of a few months - depends on what kind of time I have or whether I feel the need to vent or make a record of a thought or experience.
Only thing is, when I switched laptops last year, I put the document on a memory stick which I then lost. Thank GOD I found it again a while later because it wasn't locked and I had nightmares of somebody finding it in work or something - it would be easy to identify it as mine and had some really personal stuff on it.
So - my view is that diaries can be great - but be very, very, very careful they don't fall into the wrong hands!!!

sunnyside

Doesn't anybody worry that someone else would find and read them? My main reason for not keeping them.

pookie82

I kept a diary from when I was 15 to 25. Absolutely hilarious reading back in them, especially the early ones. I have problems remembering much of my teens so they're pretty invaluable to me. Never really thought/worried much about anyone finding them and now I wouldn't care, though I do think that if I died and they were clearing out my childhood room it might be best if they were burned. Some very sappy stuff in there.

aloevera

i was keeping one, and then someone very close who i trusted read it . now i have no proof BUT i wrote something in it that only i knew, and after a silly row with the person in question she mentioned it indirectly. hhhmmm suspicious much?

itac

I keep an online one on myspace but very rarely refer to specific peoples/places. Have had one in various guises and sites online since about 2001, some of it makes for great craic reading back, it's nice to see how I've (hopefully!) matured/grown a wee bit since then!
Found one recently that I kept when I was 9/10, now that was cringeworthy reading...one entry said

"Dear Diary.
AMAZEING. Ms. Taaffe showed us a VIDEO and gave US SWEETS. I hope it is not part of a clever plan.
Goodbye
From
Ita"

I was a slightly paranoid little girl...as well a poor speller:rolleyes:

Rayne

sunnyside wrote: »

Doesn't anybody worry that someone else would find and read them? My main reason for not keeping them.

I know, but I trust my OH 100% and probably wouldn't be too bothered if he read it. Its just for me. I'm entitled to my opinion and I won't be writting (I hope) anything too nasty.

z_topaz wrote: »

I just have a MS Word document that I open up every now and again when I want to keep a record of my thoughts.

I thought about this but think that it's be too easy to erase what I've written, there is something about physically writing something down that appeals to me.

I think I'll start one. Seen as I won't be the only grown up with one!

Thanks folks (But don't go reading it if you find it!!!)

Cupcake_Crisis

I had one up untill i was about 17, but then i just lost interest i guess

Seren_

I had a diary through most of my teenage years. Most of the time all it involved was me venting about random crap that had happened during the day! It did really help having somewhere to write things down though, especially seeing as I didn't feel I could talk to anyone about some of the stuff going through my head.

It did get me in trouble a few times.... my mum used to always read it (but then I started hiding it better lol) and one time my friend found it and read something I had written about her, which caused a huge fight. I never wrote in it after that. Sometimes I miss having somewhere to write stuff, but I find they can just cause too much hassle.

Pythia

I have a diary organiser. I found when I left school I really missed my 'homework notebook' so I got myself one for college to write down assignments and social events. I still use one now to remind myself to do things or write down important information. It's nice to have a little history of your life that you can look at.

Creamy Goodness

sunnyside wrote: »

Doesn't anybody worry that someone else would find and read them? My main reason for not keeping them.

not really tbh, if anyone read mine i'd just totally banish their existence from my brain.

reading dairies/texts/emails of anyone elses without their expressed permission is the lowest thing you can do in my opinion.

shivvyban

I have kept one since I was seven! I still write one but its only really when something huge happens. As weird as it sounds, I like being able to look back over the bad stuff from time to time to remind myself how to avoid situations (I can be very silly and repetitive sometimes!).

At the moment I'm thinking of typing up my childhood diaries because they genuinely are hilarious... I had a crush on this one guy for all of primary school (was my best friend at the time) and also a weird obsession with Prince William from the age of 7 until 12.... Its all documented.

Last time I went home I was reading 'Shivvyban - the teenage years' and there was my first proper crush, first kiss, first boyfriend, first love and first heartbreak all documented for me to look back on. I know it was all me but it made me warm and fuzzy, just like a good book, to read back over stuff I had long since forgotten. Also, it was looking back on some of the things that upset me back then made me laugh... My memoirs are hilarious (should probably not be the case as it is my life!!)!

I used to be embarrassed about all the stuff I wrote but now I realise there's nothing to be embarrassed about... it was all the real ME!

I have no worries about anyone reading my diary, I'm open and honest but I also knwo for a fact that my OH would never betray my trust and read it. He gets into my head everyday more than he would like to anyways

Maple

I used always keep a diary until I was about 16 and my mother read it AND I got into trouble for what she read! Treacherous mare.

I don't keep one religiously now but I do still scribble down my thoughts when I found them getting too much and its good to put a semblance of order on them.

I've reread the teenage ones and they're absolutely hysterical. I blush scarlet reading them, the innocence of me. The ones from when I'm older are a little more gut wrenching and the power of the emotions in them has the ability to shock me sometimes when I look back.

I vary between typing / physically writing. Typing means i'm more focused on capturing how i'm feeling, cos its like work.

Black Swan

Rayne wrote: »

Do you have a Diary?

Yes. Boards.ie!

beks101

I have several. I think I started when I was about eight or nine and it was the 'dear Diary. I hate my sister!' kinda stuff, right through to the angsty teenage 'no-one understands me!' stuff to the early twenties / now 'what will I do with my life?' stuff.

Amusing to read back on it all. Like Shivvyban, I find a lot of it can be repetitive and it's sort of saddening to see familiar themes...desperate bids to lose weight, for example, secretly fancying someone from afar...but I don't think I could ever stop, because I have this wistful notion that someone will learn from it all, even if it's not me...

I quite fancy the romantic notion of my future great great great grandkids rifling through the attic and stumbling upon my dusty diaries, and maybe seeing a bit of themselves in my senseless ramblings!

I love flicking through a few pages on a lazy Sunday afternoon and being transported back in time to a J1 summer, or that first day at college, or the day my sister got sick, or that heartbreaking flight home from America...it's good to remember, I think. It's good for the soul