A wise man* once said “Journalling is not blogging.” Truer words have not been spoken, at least with respect to blogging. Honestly, I love my blog. I love what I write in it, I love the way it looks, and I love the comments I get. (Except the spam ones. Thank goodness for MTBlacklist.) But since I have started blogging so regularly, my private journal has been pretty neglected.
As I young girl, I keep a journal off and on. I still have a cute little lock-and-key journal, with a white cat on the cover, that I used for a short time in middle school. (Grades 6-8 for you Americans) I had even managed to find a bookmark for it that matched the cover. In it I wrote about things like my friendship with NB, guys I had crushes on, getting up early to go to NB’s hockey practices, etc. I wrote sporadically, and probably gave it up within a year.
A few years later I asked for a larger journal for Christmas. I saw it in the Grand and Toy catalog, and I knew I had to have it. It was a thin box with a lock, decorated in sort of an “Olde World” style with maps and such. Inside was a journal with lined pages and illustrations of maps, etc. again. And odd choice for a teenage girl, but I fell in love with it. I was so excited when I opened it up Christmas morning. I probably didn’t write in it for more then six months.
In my last year or so of university, I tried keeping a journal again. I had been through a tough time. My long-time high school boyfriend had left me, my mom’s best friend and my dog had died, and I was so confused about who I was. I went out and bought a large three-ring binder and some pretty paper. Inside I keep things like notes on astrology, inspirational poems and passages, and the occasional journal entry. I didn’t write in it much either, but it did help me quite a bit. I still have that journal–it sits on my bookcase in the living room, and I flip through it occasionally.
Shortly after moving in with quanta, I started to keep another journal. This one was in a small notebook, the kind with the black marble cover. (Although I decorate the covers with handmade paper.) I’m on my third one of those, and I have been pretty good about writing entries. I can write nearly every day, and then go almost a month before I write again. But my journal is always waiting, and it lets me talk out problems until I find a solution. These volumes have also collected the occasional note from a book–things like the steps of spiritual growth, what items you need to a good china set, etc.
So, as much as I love blogging, I will always keep my journal. Some things should be kept between a girl and her journal, and not shared with the world at large.
*Umbrae from Aeclectic Tarot Forum
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