Writing a diary

[cheeseandcrackers90]

Just that really. Anyone here ever written a diary when going through something difficult, like a divorce? It really helps to get everything out on paper, and I also want something to look back on when it's all finished.

I use diary.org to write a diary
not used it in ages though

I find a diary is useful for long-running "illnesses" eg pregnancy sickness and depression. Day by day you don't feel any better because the longer something goes on the more fed up you are with it, and it's only by making a diary of my symptoms that I realise that now I'm feeling sick only up to 5pm rather than all day, or that the number of days that I actually manage to write something is increasing compared with the worst days of depression. Gives me a bit of hope for the future.

I wouldn't want to diary any painful times in my life. It's hard enough to go through them at the time. I certainly wouldn't want to look back and remind myself of how painful it was! But then I'm one of those people who just tries to blank out bad things which, for the most part, works for me.

However, if it works for you then that's good.

I have done it. I don’t tend towards writing a diary when times are good it is usually when they are bad. I’m not entirely sure why. Possibly because I don’t feel comfortable sharing everything with people. I find it really helps to get it all out at times. I have rarely ever looked back on it afterwards but it has been quite therapeutic at the time.

Personally, I’ve got a nice 5 year Q&A one. I use it to track mainly positive things e.g milestones for kids, trips, holidays, so the next year I can say ‘this time last year I was going xyz’ and track my family’s progress. It gives nice prompts as well - what was the last book you read, what do you want to change, that sort of thing, might be helpful. And because it only takes a minute or two it’s easy to do.

Probably not quite what you’re looking for, but worth mentioning.

Not a diary as such but I do ‘journal’ sometimes when I’m struggling, just write stream of consciousness stuff, it’s not meant to be read again in the future it’s for working through how I feel about things in the here and now.

I started keeping a personal diary in 1992, and have kept it up ever since. At the time I felt that I wasn't sufficiently aware of day to day things, and writing it down almost gave my life a little more meaning. It's quite amusing to spend a wet afternoon going back over things one would never have otherwise remembered. Yes, do it op.