Do you keep a diary?

[Punxsutawney Phil]

I found this really interesting, talks about the positive mental health benefits of diarying.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fi...ts-journaling/

[Ronnie_Pickering]

kind of, I do believe it has benefits.

[Merritt]

I've tried a few times, but I end up hating it and getting angry with myself.

[Utopia]

I have an app on my phone that reminds me to write a diary and keep track of my moods. It allows me to see how my mood changes over time.

[Jam]

No, because I'm lactose intolerant.

[Consolida]

^

I haven't kept a Diary since I was about 16 or 17.

It was eons ago, before computers, so it was basically a notebook with a handwritten scrawl lamenting the fact that I had no friends, how I was a revoltingly ugly and thoroughly obnoxious person who should never have been born. I used to use my big heavy Thesaurus book to find as many awful words as possible to describe myself. Not much different to now really

Eventually I couldn't see the point in writing my thoughts down in a Diary because while I would go to town putting myself down I couldn't bring myself to be unkind about other people just in case they came across it and read it. A heavily censored Diary isnt much good if you want to release the days frustrations and have a good old vent about people. I did once have a Diary with one of those lock and keys but even an Ant would have been able to smash that open. I could have just written about what I did each day but 'got up, had breakfast, washed my hair, went to bed' wasn't a particularly cathartic experience


It's an interesting link that you've posted though Phil, and I do know that a lot of people find keeping a Diary a very positive and fulfilling experience

[Utopia]

The sad thing is, I haven't actually had a 'good' day for the last 3 months. Life is really boring without other people. I don't really understand why people are so repulsed by me.

[Consolida]

^ I'm sure people aren't repulsed by you Utopia. You looked very nice in your photo and you come across well on here

[Punxsutawney Phil]

Thanks for the replies peeps. I feel I should start one again. My past journals have always been useful, but I find them difficult to write, as computer use over the years has effected both my handwriting and the ability to form coherent sentences! I do think emotionally they are very helpful, and at the moment I feel I have so much pain and sadness and there is nobody I can talk to about it, so perhaps a diary would help.

[Consolida]

^ I guess as long as you can read what you've written (maybe even that's not a necessity if you don't intend reading back?) then it doesn't matter how illegible your handwriting may be. For what it's worth, I think you are incredibly articulate and coherent when you write.
I'm so sorry that you are burdened by so much emotional pain and sadness, Phil. I'm sure that there are many people here, myself included, who would gladly lend a listening ear

[Punxsutawney Phil]

Thank you Muggins! Weirdly I feel I could write 100 encycopedeas worth of my thoughts and feelings, but then at other times the thoughts don't come at all. I struggle sometimes to know how to appropriately communicate and share my feelings with others in a way that doesn't alienate or bore them. I will maybe try writing my story at some point, and maybe journal it on this site. x

[kirbycrackle]

I've never kept a day to day diary but I used to write all the shitty stuff down a lot, things you can't tell other people and not kill them after, if you get my meaning lol
I even burnt a few when they were full. Quite a Cathartic experience I seem to remember.

[Ronnie_Pickering]

It's an interesting query how you write a diary. But I do like the system whereby you write 3 positives a day. Also quite good is registering positive stuff done at work as the temptation is to see the mesh of stress. Of which that is going to massive this week. (Why did I take 2 sick days...)

[steph26]

Since I was 11 or 12. It's been a bit sporadic in recent yrs. Sometimes I just can't be bothered writing, sometimes it's therapeutic. Some of the stuff written yrs while battling mental illness is difficult to read now.

[BigD]

I did keep a mood diary for a year during CBT at the suggestion of the therapist. It helped at the time but I really can't be bothered these days.

[clyde33]

I'd have absolutely nothing to write in a diary if i kept one. I just get up, go to work, feel stressed, come home late after work and do paperwork for the next day, have something to eat then go to bed and lie awake worrying most of the night or have bad nightmares. And repeat. That's my life.