JO SEAGAR on keeping a diary
Whether it’s a cathartic release, a creative outlet or simply a record of your days, keeping a diary or journal is a rewarding exercise.
I’ve been a blogger for 54 years... Okay, that isn’t exactly correct, but it sounds so modern and impressive. What I’ve really been doing is keeping a diary or journal since I was eight. My first entry is dated December 25th 1964. The little red-leather-covered diary was a Christmas present and wasn’t supposed to be started until the beginning of 1965, but I was so taken with the idea I began my entries on the very day I received it.
I’m now in possession of a carton of notebooks that would make a pile much taller than me if they were stacked up. So I can attest to the amazing joys and occasional perks of keeping a journal.
You can start a journal any time – it doesn’t matter if you’re eight or 83. Simply buy a notebook and get going. Jot down how you’re feeling, what you learnt or read about today, who and what you are thankful for. It doesn’t have to be a daily epistle, but it is important to date it.
My journal or diary – I think they’re actually synonyms – has a scrapbook feel about it too. Over the years I’ve attached ticket stubs from All Blacks test matches and fabulous concerts I’ve attended. I’ve got dried petals from flowers given to me at the seventh form ball, and my nurse’s graduation photograph. I’ve photocopied pages of my passport with exotic stamps and visas, there are faded newspaper cuttings, and I even pressed a four-leaf clover that I found in the graveyard where my ancestors are buried. There are birthday cards, horoscopes and quotes I particularly liked. I can tell you the menu from the past 54 Christmases and who shared the festivities.
I’m never sure who I’m actually writing this diary for. Sometimes I think I intended it to be included in a time capsule buried for future generations. I’ve written about the joys of watching Rawhide and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea – my favourite television programmes from the 1960s. I’ve raved about the first digital camera and mobile phones I owned, how I now had an email address, and that records were out and cassettes were the way of the future. There are lists of Christmas presents to buy or make, names I’d contemplated calling my unborn children, every pet we ever had, and even details of my menstrual cycle. Goodness knows who I thought would require this information!
There are plenty of good reasons for keeping a journal just for yourself. Possibly it’s a way to harness your creativity, or maybe you just crave the cathartic release that comes with regular writing. It’s very good for your mental health – there’s so much data about the emotional benefits of keeping a journal that psychiatrists and therapists often encourage their patients to do it.
Keeping a diary can create a track record of your mistakes and successes, and you get to identify the patterns and gain some perspective. In your love-life and career it can be difficult to see the bigger picture, but by documenting your days you can see things more clearly.
When life sends you a challenge, you can write through the options in your diary. You can build memories, brainstorm ideas, or put down thoughts and feelings that are too uncomfortable to express publicly. If you can’t separate yourself from your phone or laptop, there are plenty of helpful apps for electronic journaling.
Keeping a diary boosts your memory. Dementia research suggests this is a very good thing, but perhaps the biggest bonus is your ability to win an argument – how often I’ve been able to grab my diary and pointedly note, “Ross Seagar, that’s not what you said on November 22nd 1986!”
Below is the first ever recipe I diarised in 1965; I think I’ll make it tonight for my grandsons.
“Perhaps the biggest bonus of keeping a diary is your ability to win an argument.”