I started journaling

Post Reply New Topic

What do you do with all your journals when you are done writing in them? Keep them, throw them away, give them to someone else? I dont know what to do with mine. I think I will be writing in it a lot. Seems a shame to throw them away when Im done. To make things less complicated I might start a blog. If the internet ever goes down or I dont have access to the internet I will be left with nothing though.

What do you do with all your old journals?

I keep mine.
Some hardly have anything written in them but I keep them for reference, if I want to know what date I did a certain thing.
And there's some nostalgia involved with them too, especially the older ones.
I couldn't throw them away.

I'm going to start using mine to write my poems in

I use the entries to write stories. Sometimes, I use these stories to write adventures for RPGs.

Mostly, I just use them for self-reference to remember how I handle a previous problem that is similar to one I may be having now.

I am inconsistent with journals. But I do try. I took out a subscription to an iOS & Mac app for doing this. I'll never fill up the pages to the point of having to put something aside.

Since Thursday past, I am trying to keep track of what is happening. Maybe brother will get some insight to me if anything happens to me. Otherwise, they'll be gone to the bit bucket.

I burn them. Usually my journals are tied to a certain phase in my life, and when I need to move on from that phase, I don't want any loose ends. I'm afraid people may read them that I don't want to read them.

I also use fire, or other forms of destruction (could be shredding for instance) to achieve closure.

When I divorced, I had to give up my house. I loved that house and its country location, so quiet, so full of birds and other wildlife. I mourned in advance of my moving out, and one ritual I performed was to burn my journals from the years I lived there.

I also recommend fire for closure from other things - for instance, love letters from an ex. There is something cleansing about it.

I’ve done both. Journals post-divorce were burned. I didn’t want my son to read them. For almost ten years I kept pain journals. I have fibromyalgia and a few other things and those journals were strictly for tracking pain levels and activities I was doing or trying to do. Very useful for when I applied for an early retirement because of disability. I still have those journals.

I had a great-aunt (my fathers aunt) who really hated my mother. When the great-aunt became ill, my fathers sister found the journals that their aunt had kept, detailing her hatred of my mum. My aunt burned them and refused to tell anyone what they said.

I guess its best to try and guess the reaction of those who might see them after you’re gone. If you don’t care if others will read them and you can think of good uses like the posters above have suggested, keep them. Date them! And if you are doing a hard copy get yourself a book that you like for your writing.

I dont care if anyone reads my journals. Im not putting anything too personal in there. I just dont have that much room at my place for stacks and stacks of journals. Hopefully there will be room somewhere at my moms place. I like writing in Hilroy scribblers. They are nice and big.