[narrator]

One way to counteract fading memory of events is to sit down and write a few thousand word diary entry when something great happens. Describe the whole experience from start to finish in as much detail as possible. File it away with the time it happened and an appropriate title. I've done this for great experiences in my life. I go back and read them on a regular basis.

[p1esk]

I did this for a few years and I’ve never read my diary since. I’m not sure I ever will, let alone anyone else. Thinking some more about it, it’s pretty clear I mostly did it for comments (livejournal.com).

[jmathai]

I do this with photos. It bring me great joy to remember past moments.

I write emails to my young kids and will share them with them once they are older.

I guess I’m a nostalgic.

[fruit2020]

You do a good thing. My dad passed away suddenly 3 years ago and I exported the 1000 emails he sent me over the years. I read them in random order with Vim. If only I had more.

[narrator]

If you kept your diary secret and wrote it for yourself, it would probably be more useful.

[p1esk]

It’s funny, now that you mentioned it I remembered I did keep a journal like that - in high school, long time ago. It was a very private, well hidden, handwritten journal where I mostly wrote down my dreams, and tried to analyze them. I also described my interactions with friends, girls, parents, my insecurities, plans, etc. Several hundred pages over a couple of years. Even though this journal is valuable to me, perhaps as an archive, I’ve never felt even a slightest desire to open it.

[ip26]

The argument for doing it is usually to process your thoughts (and possibly develop your voice) rather than as useful records.

[matwood]

I agree. And also easier to be truthful. I write down events with no intention of ever going back (not that I won't), and the act of writing is helpful. In many ways I re-experience the event and get more out of it - good and bad.

[kwhitefoot]

Writing it online where others can see it can make it easier to motivate yourself. At least for some people.

[sethammons]

What is the goal? Reminds me of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. If the goal is personal development, that should be intrinsic and not need outsider validation.

The type of shit I write in a journal is not the type of stuff I want people to read. It is internally processing and organizing thoughts and private matters. It is shower thoughts all the way through processing relationships and emotions. My family, for instance, doesn't need to know half-thought out things that would offend them. Maybe later those journal entries would help me with a difficult conversation with them or serve as a jumping point for a "real" article or post. Most are just private.

[p1esk]

There are three levels of visibility in livejoirnal: public, private, and friends-only. Many of my online journal entries are set to private, those are, as you said, for internal processing and private matters. I have the least interest to read those thoughts today. I’m more likely to reread friends-only posts which generated discussion with people who I’ve never met in real life, but who nevertheless became my good online friends. But in any case, if I were to open my journal today it would be to write new entries, not to read old ones.