The "Journaling and Blogging" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Pushing the keys on my MacBook Air for my story today about journaling and blogging.  Do you do either...and if not, why not?  It has been proven that keeping a journal or writing a blog is an aid to memory and creativity.  Many psychologists say that journaling actually can help with empathy, especially with older people.  By learning to listen to yourself, you can listen better to others.  Journaling gives you a chance to step back and listen to yourself in a different way.  Also gives you a chance to encounter things in a new way by visiting your past through your your writing.  I had a neighbor who was my age and became ill due to his time in the service in Viet Nam.  One of the things he was told to do to help with his recovery was to take a writing class and write about his life much the same as you do when you keep a journal.  What he wrote was very interesting and gave me depth into his being.  He died not long ago, but it gave me more of a reason to continue writing this blog you are reading.  Writing a journal or blog is very much different than posting something online on Facebook or Twitter, since social media is not designed for authenticity and vulnerability.  When you write on social media you almost always put on a happy face.  Doesn't have to be that way when writing in a journal or even writing a blog.  After retiring from teaching in 1999 I have been occasionally writing in small booklets, much like a journal.  When one gets filled I begin another. 

Two of my favorite journals.  The top one
was a gift from my wife while the other
one features a favorite beach in St. Martin.
The top one is full while the other one
has just a few thoughts and writings in it.

My reason for doing so is so I have something to look back on when I want to write a blog story and have it accurate.  I have my own history to observe through my journal.  This past year, while visiting the island of St. Martin, I purchased a very small booklet with blank pages for writing.  On the front is an artist's rendition of my favorite beach.  It makes me happy every time I pick it up to add an entry.  My only wish is that I had started writing in my booklets long ago.  My friend Sue has been keeping a type of journal most of her married life by adding events that happen in her life.  She can pull an album off the shelf in her study and be able to read what she had done years ago on just about any day of the year.  It is more than a journal since it also has photos and mementos to go with it.  I envy her that she can relive her life over and over again whenever she wants to do so.  Both happy and sad moments bring her history back to life once again much the same as a journal.  I began this blog on September 2, 2009 with a story titled "White Rat".  Had to do with a few white rats my grandfather bought for me at an animal auction when I was a child and who escaped in our basement.  Click on the time table on the right of this blog and read it if you care to.  Since that date I have posted 3,429 stories; some good, some bad, some in between.  I'm sure you will agree if you have been reading them.  Very soon I will have received half-a-million reads of my blog.  Someone must enjoy them or at least put up with them.  I write this to give me something to occupy my time.  It makes my mind work in ways that watching TV or talking on the phone cannot do. It is also both entertaining as well as telling the history of my life.  Much like writing a journal except I am sharing my stories with you and not just myself.  Perhaps you will be the one-half million reader that pushes the key to open my blog and read my story of the day.  I have no goal in mind as to how long I will continue.  I just enjoy adding stories that deal with my life as well as the history of of my community, both current and in the past.  What do I gain from writing this stuff?  It gives me a chance to face my vulnerabilities and a way to slow down my lease on life.  It gives me a chance to make life meaningful, joyful and worthwhile.  Are you doing something that does the same for you?  If not, why?  Hey, if I can write stories, so can you!  Live you life to the fullest and maybe writing would do that for you as it has for me; be it a journal or blog or both.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.