Week 1: On Sunday's We Journal

For as long as I can remember I have always had a diary or journal. My first diary was given to me in the second grade as a gift from my mom. It was blue and yellow with a large picture of Tweety Bird which was my favorite character at the time. I would fill it with all of my grade school crushes as well as bad days when my sister and I had any type of disagreements, so understand when I say I guarded it with my life!

Still, to this day, I keep a journal by my side, in fact, I have acquired multiple. Journaling for me has become many different forms of outlets to help transfer my thoughts onto paper. I have always had a huge problem with over thinkings, however by journaling, it has become easier to get some of those thoughts in writing and out of my head. Not only do I use journaling for recording my day to day experiences, but I also keep track of daily and long term goals. Most recently I have created a dream journal where I keep track of each and every dream I have from the previous night.

 While writing, I do believe that most diary or journal writers do this in a stream of consciousness mode. This is because while writing, writers have the ability to relive different experiences and may be permeated with feelings that affect their writings. This can also be beneficial for other readers because if a writer is writing in a stream of consciousness they are probably using very descriptive language that demonstrates clarity and understanding at its utmost.
If there ever came a time where I had to share my personal journals to an online platform I would be absolutely fine with the idea. Journaling is a very therapeutic hobby for me and I'm sure that there may be others who could relate to things that I often write about. There may also be other people who share some of the same goals as myself and by exposing my personal writings to a public platform could help someone and I am all for lending a helping hand whenever I can. When a diary or journal is brought to a public platform, however, I would think that things such as real names should be changed and grammar should be corrected for legibility.
Print journals in contrast to ones submitted online are raw and often tell the whole truth, for these are the reasons I believe people become so interested and sometimes infatuated with reading them. They reveal not only full situations but may also have the ability to tell a person's whole life from their own perspective. It's can't get any better than that. One example for instance of this that we see regularly is on many murder mystery shows. There are a number of women who have kept a diary or a journal that can tell in full detail of the days that may have led up to their murder, which then helps investigators solve their case.

When determining who the audience is of a diary or journal just depends on what type of platform it is being viewed on. Ones that remain in print like a notebook, for instance, may be considered more personal and intimate which may just be used for a self-reflection over time. While an online journal may be used for the masses. However, deciding whether it should remain private or public should solely be at the author's discretion.