Journal Sharing: Your Thoughts

We asked questions about journal sharing, keeping an online diary, and issues of privacy. Reader feedback, submitted via e-mail, represent the various experiences of journal-keepers everywhere. A selection of responses appears below.

Author:: admin
Publish date:: Mar 11, 2008

An online exclusive portion of the Personal Journaling December 2000 journal-sharing feature.

"I occasionally read entries to my husband; they're usually about issues we've already discussed, and I read the entry to allow him to see my thought processes." —A. Dancer
"A few months ago, I had a terrible nightmare that disturbed [me] so badly that I immediately wrote it down the next morning. I let a close friend read this entry. It was comforting, because I felt that if anything happened to me—if the dream waas an omen of some kind—then somebody would know about the dream. —Dawn Vinson
"I was once in a Jungian journal group. We shared our journals once a week, and had a group leader who was a therapist." —Liz Carter
"There are times that I share journal entries with an online journaling list. A daily prompt is sent out each day and we all answer it and send it back in to the list for everyone to read....They are mostly a group of ladies that range in age from 19 to 58 living in Canada, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Colorado and New York. The amazing thing is how we are all at the same point in our lives and basically use journaling to find our answers." —Maggie Knorr
"I have willed my journals to an historical book collection....The idea is that at some future date, there may be some historical value to reading about how one woman lived her life during this span of history." —Laurel Shortell
"No one has ever read my personal journal, but when I was a teenager, I knew a certain family member was looking for it. Afraid that my hiding spot would be discovered, I burned it....If someone had found it and read it, I think I would have felt devastated and violated, but then, I was an insecure teenager. I have on occasion shared the content of some of my journal entries with friends. The information never failed to spark interesting discussions in which we learned more about each other and made the relationship stronger." —Joan Neubauer
"I have shared some entries with people. Usually it's because someone is having a similar problem as I've gone through and I hope that it can be a source of help." —Samantha Short

Thanks to all who participated!