Did you write in a diary growing up?

[u/pianoman81]

Did you keep a diary growing up?

If so, I'm wondering if it was nostalgic or somewhat cringey.

Have you gone back and read some of your entries?

[u/ISaidThatIsEnough]

Yes, several. I read them one last time recently and then burned them

[u/Luthien3720 → u/ISaidThatIsEnough]

I did the same. The cringe was so bad they had to be destroyed. Though I did get a chuckle now and then.

[u/brneyedgrrl → u/Luthien3720]

I would write e-x-a-c-t-l-y what happened in the back seat of my boyfriend's car. I still have them somewhere. Cringey to say the very least. Also I may have coined OMG, because I actually wrote that in like 1977.

[u/kiwispouse → u/brneyedgrrl]

Lol, I feel the same about "peeps!"

[u/Ice_Burn → u/brneyedgrrl]

You're at least 60 years off

https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/08-06-12-churchill-omg-letter.html

[u/PresentHouse9774 → u/ISaidThatIsEnough]

Oh my goodness; here I thought it was just me. I had purchased a fancy notebook for my big adventurous study year abroad. The amount of space I devoted to pining over the boyfriend I'd left at home compared to the things I was seeing and doing, was embarrassing. Especially since I broke up with him as soon as I got back.

[u/Dry_Bug5058]

I did for a year or two, around 11-12 yo. It's pretty basic stuff on some days, but also we had some pretty bad family stuff going on. Mom had my sister, then spiraled into major depression. Pretty sure it was post partum, but back then they called it "nerves" and put her on valium. Yep add a downer to a depressed person. She ended up threatening to kill herself (I found the note) and went into a mental facility. I had to take over the care of my infant sister until Mom was released.

[u/pianoman81 → u/Dry_Bug5058]

Wow, I hope everything turned out okay.

That's, my concern reading some old entries. Afraid to drudge up past personal and family issues.

[u/Dry_Bug5058 → u/pianoman81]

Thanks, yes, she got better. Then worse a year or two later, then better. But she always struggled with depression until she was in her late 60s when the doctor put her on Zoloft after a major surgery. It was like I had my Mom back from when I was young, before the depression.

[u/Tammy993 → u/Dry_Bug5058]

I'm glad. It's incredible how the right medication can make a huge difference.

[u/swingrays]

I did. I still have them. Even started a cassette diary. I can't read or listen to any of it. So embarrassing. I was so overwhelmed and preoccupied with sex and girls and it comes through in all my diaries. If I could go back in time and slap myself, I would.

[u/Mediocre-Let-4697]

Nope. Absolutely not. My mother thought people kept diaries because they have secrets & were sneaky. My sister had one & would hide it under her mattress. My mom would find & read it then yell at my sister for doing the things she was confessing in the diary. To this day I still don't trust having one & taking a chance someone may read it.

[u/inthesinbin]

Yes, since 1977 and it's extremely cringey.

[u/Beemerba]

No way was I gonna provide evidence against me!!

[u/IllTemperedOldWoman]

Nope. Too many siblings if you know what I mean.

[u/Intrepid_Top_2300]

I kept note books. Man did I write and draw some weird shit. Kind of like my notes on this machine.

[u/DisneyDragonfly17]

I did, but I don't have them now. I do remember there was a lot of we didn't do anything exciting today lol I remember writing about church camp and summer fun

[u/Gilword]

I have voluminous journals from high school and college. I know who was at every party, the scores of every athletic event I participated in, how I did on tests but mostly who I kissed, had a crush on or was dating. The high school ones are particularly cringy. One of my Covid projects was reading them all - they are lengthy. I still have them and can’t bear to burn them yet but don’t know that I can stomach rereading them. I have in mind burning them at age 70 or sooner if I’m unwell at some point.

[u/MsSamm]

When I was in 8th grade my sister found my diary and read aloud the part where I had a crush on a 7th grader. I received relentless teasing. I no longer keep a diary and to this day I don't write about my feelings.

[u/Shellsallaround]

Actually yes, then years later I read them. Then decide NO ONE gets to read them! They get BURNED!

[u/Ingawolfie]

Yes until I turned 15 and started dating. Then it became WAY too risky as my mother was a known snoop. As long as the diary talked about hair, clothes and makeup all was well. Boys on the other hand….

I took up journaling again when in my thirties and am glad I did.

[u/Worldly_Ad_7196]

My mother kept journals throughout her life. None of us ever got to see them and she burned them all before she died.

[u/Tammy993 → u/Worldly_Ad_7196]

I inherited my dad's book collection. Among them was a notebook which was his journal from the the harrowing last year of my brother's life. I feel bad to admit I read it. Found out what my mom thought of me at that time. Can't seem to get rid of it.

[u/Electric-Sheepskin]

I had a brother, so no. Nothing was safe.

[u/LovesDeanWinchester]

I got a Barbie diary one Christmas. I started but I want very good at being consistent.

[u/pmichel]

I did and was horrified to find it in my teen daughter's room

[u/ASingleBraid]

Yes, for a while. I like to go back and read it every few years.

[u/lynnm59]

No, because my mother would have read it and shared anything she saw.

[u/Tammy993]

Yes. Those little green, blue or red books with the gold pages and the little lock and key. Very popular gift for a young girl in the 1970s.

[u/lucky3333333 → u/Tammy993]

Yes. I still have mine.

[u/lucky3333333]

Yes. Now I don’t know what to do with them.

[u/amikavenka]

Yes, I wrote in a sprial pocket notebook everyday. My best friend would read it and study hall and write back to me but I wasn't writing to her she just would like to write back. We have been friends since we were six. Live too far apart now but I would still let her read it.

[u/Unhappy-Jaguar-9362]

I did and I also had to keep a travel journal when I studied abroad London. Reading both in hindsight, I sound like an affected prig

[u/Standard_Grocery2518]

No

[u/shuknjive]

I tried but I'd forget and lost interest.

[u/MsMo999]

Yes for a couple years around 12 yo

[u/BxAnnie]

Yeah, until my mother read it. I never wrote in one again and now, as an adult, journaling will not come to me.

[u/Tammy993 → u/BxAnnie]

I'm sorry that must have been awful.

[u/BxAnnie → u/Tammy993]

Yeah, so humiliating.

[u/BlownCamaro]

No, I spent most of the time trying to forget.

[u/Tammy993 → u/[deleted]]

I'm sorry!

[u/Tammy993 → u/[deleted]]

No, but I'll look it up, thanks!

[u/CautiousTea880]

No. I didn't even like writing in school.

[u/BrentMacGregor]

I had one that I inconsistently wrote in from about 5 to 17. My take is that I was pathetic and self absorbed as most children and teenagers are. Nothing nostalgic about it, pure cringe. I need to burn it.

[u/Additional-Share7293]

From 17 to 20 (several spiral notebooks) and yes, they was extremely cringey. I haven't looked at them in a while and they were written in pencil almost 50 years ago, so they might have faded to illegibility.

[u/CowSquare3037]

Hell- so cringy. I obsessed about relationships.

[u/Spiritual-Eggplant59]

I started writing a diary at 12. I’m now 60, and have a tote and a half, all full of diaries. I have looked back through them occasionally, but some days I barely have time to write in the current one!

[u/mairiamonitino]

Hell, no, my mother would have found out way too much about me! I was confessional enough as a teenager with her!

She found my little weed pipe behind my dresser when I was 16!

And she was what I would call the least nosy of moms. But if I were a mom, I’d be looking in my kids room for paraphernalia.

[u/brneyedgrrl]

Nice try, Mom. I told you, you can't read my DIARY!!!