Keeping a Journal


Working on my great-great grandmother's journals prompted me to look at some of my early ones. I started keeping a journal when I was a teenager, some 30 years ago (ouch!). The picture above is of those journals. I started when I was around 15 and I've kept a journal since then, with some seasons missing here and there. Usually those seasons are the times when too much was going on. I read some of the first ones, which detail teenage angst, breakups with boyfriends, prayers, etc. They're a little bit embarrassing, truth be told, but I know they gave me a quiet place to have a voice in my life, which was needed. I teased my siblings that I would throw them away except I have all their infractions written down in them. My present journals have less angst and are more filled with the happenings of the day and the hopes for the days ahead. In them, I draw sketches of creations I'd like to make, I write prayers out, and scriptures that I want to remember. I list out what I'm thankful for. It's a helpful process for growth. And also for seeing where you've been.

3 comments:

Susie McMahon said...

How about showing us what is INSIDE them Dixie?

Rachael Kinnison said...

Hiya Dix!
Journaling is SUCH a good idea! People dont realize actually how IMPORTANT they are~ they not only give future generations insight into or personal social lives and how we think....but they also can refresh our O*W*N* memories of things we had forgotten! It is also good just to take a few moments for ourselves each day~ a little time to reflect and slow down! I have kept a journal off and on my enire life that I can remember, and its really fun to sit down and read them~ especially the years when I was in the Navy~ so many things I find I have totally forgotten....but somehow reading the words brought them back to the front of my mind~ I wonder if I would have ever recalled those moments if I hadnt of written them down
xoxoxo rachael

Dixie Redmond said...

Yes - of course when I read my teenage journals I'm reading them as an adult now and I wince a bit at my lack of tolerance. But teenagers aren't known for their tolerance, are they?

Dixie


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden