1995
I’ve been keeping a journal since 1995. I started journaling long before that, but 1995 is when it stuck.
1995 was the year I got my first desktop computer as well which came with a Weezer video you could actually watch on your computer. Observe this advanced technology here –
I also got a printer and lots of paper. I typed thousands of pages of the mundanity of teenage life in every single font imaginable. I printed these pages and trapped them in three-inch, three-ring binders.
When I turned 18-years old and moved out, I lugged all of these binders with me to every house and apartment.
In the early 2000s, I burned them all, but that’s a blog post for another time.
What I’ve done a poor job of saying here is that journaling and I have been cool for a while. Journaling got me through a lot of hard times in my life, but it also helped me to mark my achievements and get to know myself better.
There’s a reason I’ve continued to journal into my late, very late, 30s – it helps me live my life.
Some days, I just write things like, “Angry. Hate everyone.” Other days, I write four or five pages about what I believe to be the meaning of all life, or my desire to eat cheesecake for every meal because I watched every single episode of The Golden Girls as a child.
I’m Dorothy, and that show holds up. Go watch it.
I mentioned near the top of this post that I burned my journals. I will explain that another time, but I want to highlight it right now as a way of saying that your journals don’t have to be pretty or for public consumption.
In fact, I encourage your journals to be full of your worst handwriting and crappy ideas. You can always pick out the good ideas and great bits for personal essays and burn the rest.
If you are interested in learning the fastest and easiest ways to start journaling, click here.
I hope to see you there.