Thursday 21 April 2011

Journal Writing Prompt 19

"Melancholy diminishes as I write. Why then don't I write it down oftener? Well, one's vanity forbids. I want to appear a success even to myself." 

Above quote is from Virginia Woolf's diary. From October 25, 1920. So many years before our time, and yet I bet it would resonate with each one of us. Just look the amount of prompts you have in that one quote. 

Let's break it down. And see how you can use this.

"Melancholy diminishes as I write" - How does journaling make you feel? Does it ease your burdens? Does it give you insights? Does it surprise you? Does it comfort you? How do you feel as you write in your journal?

"Why then don't I write it down oftener?" - Well, why don't you? What stops you from journaling regularly, or frequently? What are the reasons you think are facts? What are the excuses you make to yourself?

"Well, one's vanity forbids. I want to appear a success even to myself." - I don't know about you, but I'm certainly familiar with this problem. It is sometimes easier to use self-deprecating humour or comments to others, but admitting failure to oneself is harder. It may be just little failures, or perhaps just injury to one's vanity. How do you deal with it? Does your journal know the truth about you, or does it know the truth as you want it to be? 

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