Years of consistent diary entries are better than reading any novel.
For the past 10 years, I’ve been writing a diary. My entries are not quite every day but on average 2 to 3 times a week. What amazes and disturbs me? Even a day’s delay in my picking up the pen I struggle remembering all from the day before. It’s a consequence of a relatively busy life.
Now, here is the thing. My diaries have helped me in so many ways. Recollecting specific events that happened which over time are either forgotten or distorted if left to its own devices. Recently my diaries have helped enormously with a sequence of events leading up to a legal matter.
Humans have to store and recall so many terabytes of data in our jelly-like computer we call the brain. I recently was reading my diary entries about riding my old classic motorcycle. After the read, it was as though I was there again, the smell of the eucalypts and spring flowers as I rode on a warm sunny day in Tasmania. Yet that was only 8 years ago, an entry that captured my exhilaration perfectly.
I just wish I had started when I was a child.
I’m now 62, and my earliest diary was a random inspiration in 1992. Within a few pages I found myself immersed in my younger life for those moments. Coupled with a photo album it’s incredibly rewarding.
Whether you keep a written diary or entries on your computer, capturing your life story!
What will be your first entry?
So, here are my 10 top reasons for starting your personal diary today.
- A life journey – Imagine starting your diary when in your childhood and continuing through to the current day. I so wish I had done this, to recall the good and bad, the moments in your life which were life-changing, joyous, sad, inspirational, learning new things, moments with friends and family, travel, work, love and loss. To have in writing those moments so real and in front of you to relive in the future.
- Maturing – We are all on this journey, as we grow we are experiencing and learning about life, our careers, having a family, dealing with loss, our beliefs and how they change. Your successes and failures are all recorded there to one-day review your life and its momentum through the years. Reading over your past can be quite moving.
- Family and friends – We take for granted our family and friends that are part of our lives, to recall special times with parents and siblings that can never be experienced again. To be there with our dad rebuilding his old car, or being taught how to fish, holidays with parents ad friends at our shack on the river, great times, so many of them and so valuable.
- Career – Follow your career, its defining, triumphant and rewarding moments. Also those where you’ve experienced problems say with the company, your boss, or your own business. Notes that can also help recall legal and HR issues. From experience, this can be reason alone to maintain a diary.
- Health – Imagine not only having records of your health as you age but also your family, your parents, your partner, and your children, those major incidents or changes so subtle they aren’t evident for years.
- Travel – My 1992 diary entry was all about a trip to Indonesia which includes fond memories and a life-changing moment, recalling the nuances of that trip is often pleasantly revisited. Recently I spent a couple of months in Italy, my diary is rich with my daily life there, even now I read it back and it’s clear how I can’t rely on just a memory.
- Sports and Hobbies – I only wish I had a diary for the years from my teens and early twenties, happy times with our what are now classic cars and bikes. Visiting racetracks, and doing the crazy thing you do when young, recall the camaraderie of friends and my brothers. I flew aerobatic aircraft for a decade, almost every weekend. My memory of those flying days is just not enough to capture so many special moments that I can never get back.
- Legal – Our lives can be occasionally interrupted by legal problems, whether family disputes, work incidents such as accidents, or being sued. Keeping a diary of events as they unfold can be a lifesaver. My own experience has proven the worth of recording these events.
- Therapy – I find just writing out your thoughts seems to help interpret a situation differently. This has helped me at night to sleep, my experiences are recorded, and I can hang them up for the night.
- Legacy – Your life’s story will be what it is. Whether your diary leaves a perpetual legacy for your family and their families or whether it was all just for your secret memories.
How to start your diary?
There are no hard and fast rules as to what your diary entries should be. Just go with the flow, it’s your choice what you may want to include or exclude. It’s your story after all.
The main thing is to at least try to write twice a week, more often is preferable. If something special happens on a day then try to record it the same day as you will convey not just the happenings but also your emotions, it does make a difference.
- You’ll just need a pen, a diary and your memory (or computer if preferred)
- Cover – write the month and the year you commenced. When full add the last month/year.
- Inside pages – Top of the entry add a title and date. Both help with finding key events later. Example – ‘Bought my first guitar’ 01/01/2022
- Add your touch, your thoughts, an inspirational quote, sketch a drawing, stick (or copy) a photo, news clipping, event ticket, flight ticket etc.
- Have fun! Write often and don’t hold back!
If you would like a diary to kick off with then have a look at some that I’ve created!
