I have a tote in the basement with my diaries/journals going back to 1979 I think. I was 12 when I started my first diary.
Anywho, I have a small diary I keep in my purse, a prayer diary I use during prayer, and a few Word documents that comprise, well, lots and lots of writing.
I never go back and read what I’ve written in the past. Couldn’t care less about what I’ve written.
I write to get things out of my head. I write when I’m upset, and I write when I need to think things through. Once things are written down, I don’t feel a need to go back over them.
I kept a diary when I was in the monastery – destroyed that one a few years ago because I didn’t want anyone to ever see it. I also destroyed a diary I kept around the time I got married, again because I didn’t want anyone to ever see what I’d written there.
Not sure why I keep so many of them. If they’re still around when I die, someone may get a kick out of reading what a 12-year-old me had to say about life… but I doubt it.
