I can’t believe we’ve been journaling here on LifeTransPlanet for three years now! It’s amazing to me. But I’ve always liked journals, or diaries as I called them when I was a kid because I liked to think about what it would be like to read my diary in years to come. Writing a journal, a diary, or a blog helps you to reflect on the moment that you are in right now and also to remember the past and what can come in the future.
When I was eight years old I received my first journal and started writing in it. Mostly I wrote about all my pet animals including my pet duck, Beep Beep, my pet rabbit, Flash, my dog Ginger, and our pet rooster, Clem. I also wrote about my friends and later, boys. Occasionally, world news crept in such as the first war in the Middle East. It’s funny how much changes, and how much stays the same. (Click pictures to enlarge diary posts and photo)
Thinking about the future and chickens- not much has changed :-)
“And now I have a rooster” …”December 2, 1990 Sunday Did you ever notice that in the year 2000 I will be 20. I think that’s neat”
With my brother Justin and my dog Ginger around 1988
I hoped people would be interested in my journal -and still do with this one
“June 11, 1990 …I got a duck he’s only a week old and man he’s big! My thearoy is that when I get really old a scientist will read this and make me famous…”
Big changes, like moving and death, have always made me “Super Sad” -and still do
“Jan 14, 1991 Tomorrow’s war in Iraq which is so sad.” “Jan 25, 1991 Flash died! Everyone’s sick in my class and war is terrible too….” “Feb 6, 1991 I’m trying to get over Flash but it’s hard. I haven’t been so sad. Everything around me is changing, America (war), my life (mom got a job), I met more friends, brother, starting school in Fall, moving, aging, changing schools…”
I still write a personal journal in addition to this blog. I write with a pen and paper. It helps me to try and figure things out. To vent. To put into words the mumbo jumbo of feelings that sometimes come over me. A lot of times after I write I am able to better deal with the world and see it from a different perspective.
It has also made it so that I am not afraid to write. I know that being a “perfect” writer won’t ever happen and only makes writing seem difficult, but that I can be a good writer. To do that I have to actually write something! Being able to write without anyone correcting me has made it so that I am able to say whatever I think as grammatically and politically incorrect as I want to be. It is very freeing! I know not everyone likes to write, but for me, journaling is a great stress reliever and creates a historical document I can always look back on like this first one when I was a kid. Journaling is about the present, it creates history and it helps to look to the future. The ultimate time machine.
Three years journaling online. Three years of animals, activities, changes, super sadness and super happiness. I wonder what it will be like for future kids in the world of journaling their lives. I will be waiting and writing to find out.