Dear Dumb Diary, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. All implications that diaries are for children with nothing better to do with their time. Eventually it is assumed that we grow up, we get a life, and we lose the time to relax and write about our thoughts. But wait – what is so wrong and childish about writing down our thoughts?
I have kept a real diary since I received my first laptop. I remember myself, a naïve fourteen-year-old, writing down my annoyances and excitements, my hopes, my sometimes optimistic and sometimes pessimistic outlooks. And now, at eighteen, whenever I have the time, I look back on those old entries and laugh. Laugh. They are hilarious! As immature and childish as they seem, they are mine, and what better memory of myself to have than a memory that I, myself, have recalled and written down?
This is just one of the perks of having a diary. Life is short, and looking back on a year’s worth of written memories will only seem like a smidgen of time in the grand scheme of things. Life is complicated, and there are times when you wish you remembered that one day of college that irked you to no end, or that one, sun-shining day of glory that you wish you could relive forever. Regardless of whether or not you feel that your own life is exciting enough to remember, it is not about excitement, but about worth and appreciating the life you have lived. In our time of recording photos and statements to be shared with everyone else, your diary is possibly the one document of recorded memories that is for your eyes only. Personally, I have grown to keep up with the social media trends that are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I have to force myself to remember that even if something isn’t meant to be shared, it can still be worthy of being written down. Sometimes the best kept memories are those just for you, written by you, so that you, and you only, can cherish them in the days, weeks, and years to come.
Speaking of modern media, diary-writing has progressed just as technology has. If writing with a pencil and paper doesn’t appeal to you, who says that you have to write the old-fashioned way? Open a Word document, or a Google Docs file, and start typing. Whether it be on your laptop, desktop computer, iPad, cell phone, or any other technological device, journal in a way that works for you. You should feel motivated to continue your diary, so if the writing itself feels like a hassle, try another method!
So when you are feeling bored, or feeling overjoyed, it never hurts to take a moment and jot down some thoughts. It can be easiest to let out written steam when we are angry, but try to record the happy moments too. A few years from now, you will want to remember the happy times as well, and as you smile (because you definitely will), that diary won’t seem quite so “dumb” after all.
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