I don't want anyone reading my journals (aka private thoughts).
I don't want to die and for them to read them without me there to ask questions or have conversations about things they didn't know or understand.
I have changed over the years. I am not the person I was even five years ago.
Clearing out a few years ago I became completely bored with my voice. Especially the morning pages. I could hear the victim in me and it was really unpleasant.
So I regularly throw out old journals. Probably every two years. As I get older though I think it will become more regular.
Yes, I can be so whingey too but actually when I'm writing my morning pages, it's that I can notice more nowadays and then use it as fuel to inspire me to stop whinging. When I was at Psychologies, as a team, we were always allowed time individually and as a team to whinge and have a good rant for 5 or 10 minutes and get it all out. Then we'd say....'Ok, now what? What have we learned? What are we going to do differently?' But without the ranting and whinging we couldn't ask the questions.
Yes that's a great strategy in the immediate future, I just don't want to be reading all the whinging again years later. For me, it's a case of learn from it and move on. I know it can be useful to see how far a person has come though. To ditch old journals is a very personal decision. 🤗
I once listened to a talk by Wayne Dyer who sent his assistant to his office to get rid of everything in it including his books and journals. Apparently it’s energetically letting go which creates space for the new to come in. I say that, but I have a cupboard full of notebooks and journals. I’m not sure I could.
Perhaps pause your decision until the end of the month. Put them somewhere safe & let your thoughts percolate & bubble… you will know Suzy - perhaps in your own timescale rather than part of this wider minimalist 30 day challenge.
There is no rush, you have all the time you need 💜💐🍂
I vote to keep them. I have a pile on a bookshelf in my home office. I sometimes go through them looking for writing inspiration. It's hard to find - most of the pages are filled with useless random thoughts. But every once in a while, I find a nugget, a memory that holds a precious story within. And that's priceless. I don't worry too much right now about who will read them when I die. When I get to that point, I guess I'll ditch them, but until then ....
I was thinking I wouldn't want someone going through my morning pages after I die. But I'm hanging onto them as long as I need them. When I don't I'll burn the pages.
When I was in my late 20s and moved back to my parents' for a while, I filled a couple of black bin bags with old journals. Now I understand more about ADHD I understand WHY writing has always been so important to me but back then, pre even attempting to process any trauma history, I was just so embarrassed flipping through them. I had NO self-compassion for Younger Me. Was morto and disgusted with myself so put them into the black bin bags after using loads of Sellotape to make it harder for anyone to read them and then binned them.
With hindsight being 20/20 (and having more SPACE now - I spent years and years living in tiny studio flats in Cardiff and London and then back in my small childhood bedroom), I kinda wish I'd kept them to do some healing work with them BUT it's also liberating to release, release, release - especially on a Full Moon!
I keep them all now and imagine Elderly Me getting a giggle from them - if she can read my writing.
I think it's so important to be compassionate to ourselves. Mine are fairly recent journals so filled with recent turmoil and I want to acknowledge it but MOVE ON.
Maybe pull some pages that are especially meaningful and add them as a backdrop in a junk journal, then burn the rest! I lost my mom last year and she annotated a number of books she read and that has been such an amazing thing for me to have now; so maybe if you've done something like that, hold onto that history.
Noooooooooo!!!! 😆 they are your history, your whole life and how far you have come!! I have drawers full of mine, husband despairs, but I could never get rid of them! ❤️
I wrote a post about this 2 days ago. I tend to forget life events and thoughts, and I like to keep them. I digitalised my bullet journals and diaries, so they do not take up space, and I let go of the todo lists and collections that were not serving me anymore. I also switched to digital journal , I have taken steps to make the process easy and it feels like writing on paper. I tried years ago but the tech was not there yet like today. The set up I have makes me want to write more too!
I ditched plastic boxes to my height full of journals - relief has been stronger than regret. They didn’t make me happy when I read them back and realised they never would - but you may feel different - I think you’ll know if it is the time if not there may be a reason why you’re stalling. Everyone’s different. ❤️
Good for you, Suzy! You are my sHero 🤗. I have plastic boxes full of journals back to my high school days, 60 years ago. Phew! Seeing that in print. I'm planning on burning them by the end of this year as I release, release, release and make room for further abundance
LOVE the idea though and often encourage clients who don't journal to use any paper and then safely burn it. Or even write in biro on loo roll and flush it. Release release release
I tore out some of the pages in my journals that felt they didn’t serve anything or wouldn’t serve anything in the future. Those heavy, depressing, blah, blah, blah pages which I don’t think I can even make myself read again. That way I keep the memories, moments and even the bad times that I might want to go back and understand, but got rid of what I felt was weighing me down and no longer served me.
I don't want anyone reading my journals (aka private thoughts).
I don't want to die and for them to read them without me there to ask questions or have conversations about things they didn't know or understand.
I have changed over the years. I am not the person I was even five years ago.
Clearing out a few years ago I became completely bored with my voice. Especially the morning pages. I could hear the victim in me and it was really unpleasant.
So I regularly throw out old journals. Probably every two years. As I get older though I think it will become more regular.
Yes, I can be so whingey too but actually when I'm writing my morning pages, it's that I can notice more nowadays and then use it as fuel to inspire me to stop whinging. When I was at Psychologies, as a team, we were always allowed time individually and as a team to whinge and have a good rant for 5 or 10 minutes and get it all out. Then we'd say....'Ok, now what? What have we learned? What are we going to do differently?' But without the ranting and whinging we couldn't ask the questions.
Yes that's a great strategy in the immediate future, I just don't want to be reading all the whinging again years later. For me, it's a case of learn from it and move on. I know it can be useful to see how far a person has come though. To ditch old journals is a very personal decision. 🤗
I once listened to a talk by Wayne Dyer who sent his assistant to his office to get rid of everything in it including his books and journals. Apparently it’s energetically letting go which creates space for the new to come in. I say that, but I have a cupboard full of notebooks and journals. I’m not sure I could.
energetically letting go. That's what it feels like. xxx
Perhaps pause your decision until the end of the month. Put them somewhere safe & let your thoughts percolate & bubble… you will know Suzy - perhaps in your own timescale rather than part of this wider minimalist 30 day challenge.
There is no rush, you have all the time you need 💜💐🍂
Thanks. But too late.....
I vote to keep them. I have a pile on a bookshelf in my home office. I sometimes go through them looking for writing inspiration. It's hard to find - most of the pages are filled with useless random thoughts. But every once in a while, I find a nugget, a memory that holds a precious story within. And that's priceless. I don't worry too much right now about who will read them when I die. When I get to that point, I guess I'll ditch them, but until then ....
Thank you but am going to ditch them. They are just so full of angst mostly.
I was thinking I wouldn't want someone going through my morning pages after I die. But I'm hanging onto them as long as I need them. When I don't I'll burn the pages.
When I was in my late 20s and moved back to my parents' for a while, I filled a couple of black bin bags with old journals. Now I understand more about ADHD I understand WHY writing has always been so important to me but back then, pre even attempting to process any trauma history, I was just so embarrassed flipping through them. I had NO self-compassion for Younger Me. Was morto and disgusted with myself so put them into the black bin bags after using loads of Sellotape to make it harder for anyone to read them and then binned them.
With hindsight being 20/20 (and having more SPACE now - I spent years and years living in tiny studio flats in Cardiff and London and then back in my small childhood bedroom), I kinda wish I'd kept them to do some healing work with them BUT it's also liberating to release, release, release - especially on a Full Moon!
I keep them all now and imagine Elderly Me getting a giggle from them - if she can read my writing.
I think it's so important to be compassionate to ourselves. Mine are fairly recent journals so filled with recent turmoil and I want to acknowledge it but MOVE ON.
Maybe pull some pages that are especially meaningful and add them as a backdrop in a junk journal, then burn the rest! I lost my mom last year and she annotated a number of books she read and that has been such an amazing thing for me to have now; so maybe if you've done something like that, hold onto that history.
That's a great idea. x
Please don't get rid of them. Please keep them!
My heart is heavy each time I think about letting go of all the journals I have written on.
It's like pieces of me, real and surreal. I cannot think about getting rid of them.
I mean it's a good question to think about but it feels right keeping them, even if I don't visit them often. They are a part of me.
Noooooooooo!!!! 😆 they are your history, your whole life and how far you have come!! I have drawers full of mine, husband despairs, but I could never get rid of them! ❤️
I think I am ready to start again in my new life in my new home. xxx
Burn them!
Yes!! I have decided to get rid.
Did you do it? How did it feel?
I would keep the ones when you made a big shift on your life & burn the rest as katie said
I wrote a post about this 2 days ago. I tend to forget life events and thoughts, and I like to keep them. I digitalised my bullet journals and diaries, so they do not take up space, and I let go of the todo lists and collections that were not serving me anymore. I also switched to digital journal , I have taken steps to make the process easy and it feels like writing on paper. I tried years ago but the tech was not there yet like today. The set up I have makes me want to write more too!
Digital journal....now that's an interesting throught....
😏
I ditched plastic boxes to my height full of journals - relief has been stronger than regret. They didn’t make me happy when I read them back and realised they never would - but you may feel different - I think you’ll know if it is the time if not there may be a reason why you’re stalling. Everyone’s different. ❤️
I have ditched them.....
Good for you, Suzy! You are my sHero 🤗. I have plastic boxes full of journals back to my high school days, 60 years ago. Phew! Seeing that in print. I'm planning on burning them by the end of this year as I release, release, release and make room for further abundance
And maybe a good reason…
I burnt mine in a ceremony and kept the travel ones. It’s a full moon tonight? ✨
Burn them by the full moon?
Let them go! Although I would make a bonfire and burn them so all the words, emotions and thoughts tumble upwards to the sky and disperse.
But taking the covers off in case of toxic chemicals would take ages?
tumble t the sky = yes!!!
LOVE the idea though and often encourage clients who don't journal to use any paper and then safely burn it. Or even write in biro on loo roll and flush it. Release release release
release, release, release!!!!
I tore out some of the pages in my journals that felt they didn’t serve anything or wouldn’t serve anything in the future. Those heavy, depressing, blah, blah, blah pages which I don’t think I can even make myself read again. That way I keep the memories, moments and even the bad times that I might want to go back and understand, but got rid of what I felt was weighing me down and no longer served me.