Do you keep a journal?

I'm 159 pages into a 400 page journal, my first successful attempt at personal journaling in my life. I've finally found reason to chronicle my personal thoughts, and I'm really excited that the habit is sticking. I can't wait to have a complete volume finished and put it on my bookshelf, it will be my first one of a kind book, no one else in the world has one! Also, I'm an avid lucid dreamer, and I keep a dream journal.

If anyone has thought of journaling but haven't given it a try, I think you should! What's the key? Find a journal that you love, you'll want to sit down in front of it every day and write.

Do any of you journal regularly? What do you write about?

A diary?

I don't and I probably never will. I should though, considering how terrible my memory can be at times.

I always consider people who write diaries to be weird. Sorry.

Well this is weird because I actually do keep a dream journal after having a conversation with a friend about how fucking weird our dreams are. Haven't begun a regular journal though. Mostly because my life is painfully boring at the moment.

No. The only guy who can get away with keeping a journal is Doug Funny.

When I have thoughts, I think about them. Why waste paper?

I used to be way into Livejournal as a kid but I don't really keep any type of journal now.

No, it would be really boring.

@BraveToaster said:

No. The only guy who can get away with keeping a journal is Doug Funny.

And Karl Pilkington.

Nope

Does my blog count?

I have no idea what I did yesterday, with no written record of it.

I've been thinking recently about keeping a dream log after consecutively having some really strange ones. Some nightmarish, some tingly feeling.

Dude, keeping a journal is risky as all hell!

DO YOU WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOU!?

People who keep journals secretly WANT them to be read.

I keep my notebook on me whenever I go out. I use it mostly to jot down important tasks so I don't forget them later. Used to get a bit anxious at times when I couldn't recall something from ten seconds ago. I don't write full on journal entries in my notebook (carbon), though I do have a separate dream journal as my half-ass attempt to lucid dream.

No, I do not see the point. If I don't remember it, was it worth remembering?

No. The thought has crossed my mind but it's never been more a passing thought. It wouldn't necessarily contain the events of the day (as those would be pretty boring), but would contain my thoughts of the day.

As for "dream journals"? I don't remember my dreams. Every now and then I might, but most of the time I don't. And when I do, the memory of them goes away very quickly.

For those of you who are saying, "what's the point?", the point of a journal is not just writing down what happened during the day. A journal is best used to capture good ideas. You shouldn't trust your memory, there is so much I could forget that is so valuable, I choose to write it down so I can go back to it whenever I want. Have you heard something and said, "I should remember that", then forgotten it? Capturing good ideas is important.

I write one in Japanese, I only stick with it because it's good practice as people correct my Japanese which helps me learn.

I'll sometimes write a post or blog if I do something cool, or go somewhere interesting but I keep my weekly/daily stuff confined to the above.

I have a notebook I write in whenever I come up with any kind of ideas that seem interesting. I write out my thoughts and put it away afterwards. Never stuck to it on a regular basis, but I'm glad it exists.

@Philantrophy said:

No, I do not see the point. If I don't remember it, was it worth remembering?

Memories are bad. You forget the good ones, but you'll always remember the bad ones.

No, I don't think I'd want to put the time into it that it'd require, and I'd probably get bored writing it. I might keep a dream diary again though.

Nuh-uh. I should do a dream journal though, 'cause my dreams are weird as Lord of the Rings characters killing millions of Chuckies.

@AlexanderSheen said:

No, it would be really boring.

@BraveToaster said:

No. The only guy who can get away with keeping a journal is Doug Funny.

And Karl Pilkington.

They should publish Pilkington's journal. I would pay good money to read through that.

@Landon said:

@Philantrophy said:

No, I do not see the point. If I don't remember it, was it worth remembering?

Memories are bad. You forget the good ones, but you'll always remember the bad ones.

You remember both, you just dwell on the bad ones more. To that I say there is not point in doing it since you can't change anything.

I have a book I jot some thoughts in. Very sporadically though. Haven't updated in a couple of months, actually.

I do alot of free writing where I just write what ever comes into my head no matter what it is . It helps me figure things out , come up with Ideas and be creative would that be considered a journal ?I do it pretty regularly .

I do and although I had it for one month and a year, I have 40 entries written.Sometimes, I feel so ashamed for what I did that I can't even look at my journal.

No, but I DO write erotic "friend" fiction.

When I started using twitter my intention was to use it as sort of a journal/diary thing. Just quickly and briefly mention events happening in my life so I could look back on them. Obviously on twitter it couldn't be anything super personal, but I don't feel that a journal has to be personal on that level - simply reading back a series of events can evoke the same emotions that you had at the time.

Either way, 3 years, 400 followers and over 3,700 tweets later, it's safe to say that I don't use twitter like that anymore. I don't know if I ever did, really. I just use it for random dumb shit like everyone else. I didn't anticipate ever amassing any followers other than spambots. Turns out being a moderator on a popular internet forum makes people follow you on twitter. Who'd have thought it?

Dammit, is it already the 18th century again?

I have a notebook? And there's some fucked up stuff in there..

Dear Diary,

Today I did jack shit and thought about boobs.

Yeah, no. I don't live an interesting enough life to bother with that sort of thing.

You mean like a Diary, No.

@Philantrophy said:

@Landon said:

@Philantrophy said:

No, I do not see the point. If I don't remember it, was it worth remembering?

Memories are bad. You forget the good ones, but you'll always remember the bad ones.

You remember both, you just dwell on the bad ones more. To that I say there is not point in doing it since you can't change anything.

Yeah, but if you ignore the past then you are doomed to repeat it in the future.

If I ever become stranded in the wilderness for an extended period of time and happen to have pen and paper, then maybe I'll keep one.

No. Because i take things badly when I am reminded of bad periods of my life. And I take it badly when I am reminded of nothing happened.

When things are bad I have to clear out xbox messages or inbox's of websites. so I am not reminded of bad things. I am simply not secure enough to mull over things on a day to day bases.

I did for a little bit as a kid, then I stopped.

I've tried writing a few fictionalized autobiography things, but I've never written a straight up journal. I'm too boring to hold my own attention, but I like to base stories off of my own experiences.

well, i do put up lyrics and stuff on my livejournal, but i dont think that really counts

I have a notebook for lyrics but I usually use the notepad on my laptop and the notes on my phone.....

Although I don't keep a journal, I'm a developer and I do keep notes of ideas and such that I want a record of for the future, usually every day or two.

no, i fear it would be used against me somehow. either as black mail. evidence in court. i dunno, but no good can come of having a journal!

NO GOOD I SAY!

Yeah I do actually.

I lost someone incredibly close to me lately, and I've been having a lot of thoughts and feelings going on in my head of how I'm going to carry on my life without them. It feels like my brain is going a mile a minute, and I need somewhere to put everything down, or I get overwhelmed and can't sleep. It's useful.

@Landon said:

@Philantrophy said:

@Landon said:

@Philantrophy said:

No, I do not see the point. If I don't remember it, was it worth remembering?

Memories are bad. You forget the good ones, but you'll always remember the bad ones.

You remember both, you just dwell on the bad ones more. To that I say there is not point in doing it since you can't change anything.

Yeah, but if you ignore the past then you are doomed to repeat it in the future.

Accept the past not ignore it. This is getting deep.

@49th said:

I always consider people who write diaries to be weird. Sorry.

This

I was forced to keep a journal as a kid. Now I hate writing. Soooo no, I do not keep a journal.

Not really. There are some blogs that I wrote that I pretty much regret writing and posting, but I live with it like everything else that I stupidly do, say, or type.

I've kept journals since I was fifteen. I've writen eleven or twelve journals.