Day 349: The Organization of Journals

Today, I organized my journals in sequential order for the first time ever. It was necessary for my OCD and for general reference. Also, in case I get dementia when I get older I can look back at this post an figure out why my bookshelf is full of several volumes of a whiny kid that drinks too much.

I didn't get too deep into reading them. I browsed through a few first pages and last pages, some randoms, and personal chapters and events. I made a list of the journals, charted the dates, and made some personal notes to myself. Several of those notes have been omitted from this post for the personal privacy of others.

Many of the journals were gifts from people important in my life. I will be forever grateful to those that bought me one of these. They were put to good use and are a mess of ink now.

There have been times in my life where I have not written much. Days to months go by without a word inside the pages. Then there were be times when five pages would be done in a night. This year has been difficult to write here and write in my journal. There doesn't seem to be enough time or energy. When this is all over I will be very happy to get back to the empty pages daily. I don't need to censor myself in journals.

There are so many benefits that come from journaling. It creates a daily habit, which is good for structure and feeling accomplished. There were days that I felt like I did something because I wrote down my thoughts. Writing in the journals has been therapeutic. I have been able to sort out a lot of problems and personal dilemmas by just writing about them. Because sometimes problems aren't really problems; we just want someone to listen to us bitch for awhile. A journal can be that listening friend. On top of all of that, journaling for a long period of time has created a record of my life. The mind is working well when it is forgetting. There is too much the brain needs to do for all the memories to be important enough to keep around for easy access. The written words between these covers allow me to catalog my thoughts and let them go. If at any moment I want to look back at a time period, I can. Granted, I was writing that day.

But I think the most important reason that I journal is so that someone else can read them. Hopefully, my grandkids. There is so much we never get to know about one another. We base our feelings on the interactions we have person to person. But we rarely get to see a glimpse into the private mind of others. I am not saying that my thoughts are gripping or worth a read. It is the historian in me that finds the idea of primary source records priceless. I want to create those for my life, in case anyone besides my mom is ever curious.

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One.

10/19/07 - 10/05/08 Many dates are not included. This was my first attempt at a daily journal. It was much less than daily. But it got the ball rolling.

Two

2/11/08 - 4/17/08

My proper and complete first journal. It says, "Zach's Thoughts".

Three

5/24/08 - 6/23/10

Four

6/24/10 - 10/07/11

Five

10/08/11 - 11/25/11

Six

10/26/11 - 5/2/12

Seven

5/3/12 - 11/21/12

Eight

11/23/12 - 01/28/13

Nine

1/28/13 - 11/22/13

Ten

11/23/13 - 1/22/15

Eleven

1/29/15 - 1/5/16

Twelve

1/6/16 - 10/3/16

Thirteen

4/11/16 - 6/12/16

The journal I took on the Appalachian Trail. (It was far too heavy.)

Fourteen

10/4/16 - 3/4/17

Fifteen

3/5/17 - 10/9/17

Sixteen

11/10/17 - 6/14/18

Seventeen

6/23/18 - 7/1/19

Eighteen

9/7/18 - 12/6/18

The extra journal I wrote during my first semester of my teaching program. It is probably my favorite collection of insanity.

Nineteen

7/2/19 - 11/9/19

Twenty

11/10/19 -

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Author's Note #1: I am a bit sad that my fountain pen that I have used for so many years is now broken. But as a back up I am using a Pilot G-2, the Cadillac of ballpoint pens.