Tuesday 9 February 2010

Remember your smiles, not just tears

One of my best friends mentioned that she writes in her diary whenever something bad happens. So when she reads her diary, it makes her cry. I also used to record mostly negative things in my earlier journals. It is only natural of course to turn to one's most trusted confidant when things go wrong. When you feel like no one in the world understands you, and all the whirling thoughts in your mind will drive you crazy if you don't get them out somehow, your personal journal/diary is a natural choice. It is a good choice. It gets the words out. It could even be therapeutic. And it's good. But what we must remember that our life - hopefully - does not consist only of those bad moments. There are good days, ordinary days that we don't bother to record because we are of course busy living our life to remember about the poor, miserable journal. While I wouldn't dream of telling people how often they should write in their diary, I do think that we should try to write at least as many entries on good days, as we do on bad days. When I read my earlier journals, it's depressing. But I remember that my life wasn't that bad, and I regret now that I didn't record happier memories that I could revisit. So now, I make conscious effor to record happy stuff, or even everyday stuff. So when I look at my current journals, I might have a more balanced view of my life. I will admit, I am not there yet. My journals tend to obsess about the things I am obsessing about at any given point in time, BUT I am at least aware of it, and I am making an effort. If you are going to re-read your journals then you should take a moment to think about what you want to see in them. Do you want to read about life as it truly is? Do you want to revisit just the horrible things that happen to you? Do you want to read just happy stuff? Personally, I go for the first. Memory is unreliable at the best of time, so having those memories stored on the pages of my journals is as close to a true narrative of my life as I can get. Of course when you are having a bad day, you are not going to think about writing happy things. So do this little thing - go stick a post-it to your journal with a note "write happy things". So when you are happy, perhaps that will encourage you to jot down few words.

8 comments:

  1. I'm the opposite, I hardly ever write anything bad in my journal, I'm trying to be more balanced but I enjoy writting more about the good time, those are the time I want to remember.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JadeLD,

    I find writing bad stuff therapeutic. It's good to get it out of my system, but then usually when I read my diaries, I don't necessarily linger over them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey doll I will try to do that but I am sure I can't :( ...have nu guj. ma ;) mane avu lage che ke mara mind ma ek separate portion che jema hu happy memories bhegi karu chu or I can share my happiness with others. But I believe that ke duniya ma loko ne potana dukh ochha nathi hota to tamaru kaho...so its better to tell your diary ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Namu,

    I believe exactly the same thing. Keva vicharo male chhe aapna. Hu pan mari jaat ne kayam em j kahu ke potani musibato potane kehvi j sari

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, you got a point there, in writing down the good stuff too! I have a notebook that I write in from time to time, and I have noticed most "posts" is negative. But it feels good to have written them down, and I have a real diary where I tend to write most happy stuff (or everyday stuff).

    Just found your blog so now Im looking through and enjoying some new reading. :)

    /Josefin

    ReplyDelete
  6. Josefin,

    Thank you for taking the time to comment, and I am glad to see you here.

    I just keep one diary for everything - both everday + positive/negative. I do have a separate writing journal, but that's more for professional writing craft.

    ReplyDelete
  7. For many years I used my journal for "venting,' and as a result I never want to read any of those journals. As you said, it's a shame too, because I'd prefer to read and remember happy occasions in my life.

    My journal goal for 2010 is to write things I want to read again later!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Laurie,

    That's a fabulous goal. Good luck, and I hope this becomes a true keepsake journal. :-)

    ReplyDelete