When I was younger everyone had a diary and no one thought twice about it. Granted some people were better at keeping them than others but still, they had one. Now the English teacher says, "Who here keeps a diary?" and no one raises their hand. Not even me. So perhaps I'm not the only one: 18, confused, who needs a place to write it all out but won't admit to keeping a diary. Thus, casting aside all fears that I am just about to 'de-cool' myself, here's why I think it's fab to keep a diary.
Memory: I can sing every line to JME's 'Integrity' or J Cole's 'Wet Dreamz,' recite Shakespeare's sonnet 116 and utter lines from Friends before they happen on screen, and yet I still can't remember what I had for dinner last night or where my phone is (even when it's in my hand.) One day, I'll be old and grey (not to tempt fate) and I don't want to forget everyone I knew or all the memories I had. But if worst comes to worst, though I can't have Ryan Gosling reading my life story to me at my bedside (fate, feel free to do what you want with that) I can always have my diaries.
Progression: "Today Susie didn't let me play hide and seek because there were too many people playing and I think that was really mean and she's really bossy and I don't like her now"- my first diary summed up. It's amazing to trace my maturity back to its initial stages and it'll be interesting seeing how my 'current self' appears to me in twenty years' time.
Fame: So after I've become the next J.K.Rowling and I'm long passed of this world, my great great grandchildren might be thankful for my best-selling teenage drivel when it gets a few extra notes in their pockets. Kidding! (Sort of.)
Procrastination: When the coursework's due for tomorrow, the sketchbook's only half done and your History tutor said you'd be delivering a class presentation this Friday, why not cast all duties aside, curl up in bed and write about all the work you still have to do? Joke- best not to neglect your studies. But I can't deny that writing my diary has distracted me when there were more 'productive' things I could have been doing. (But then, everything seems fun when it's not what you're supposed to be doing.)
Catharsis: Let's face it, we all need a good rant. But what we don't always realise is that not everybody cares! Whether I'm really angry or really sad, really frustrated or really down, I still don't want to bore my friends to death... so in the diary it goes! Of course, when the occasion calls for it, it's also where I release my happiness. You wouldn't believe how many pages are stolen by the first time someone asked me out or the day my brother got into grammar school. Why not? I need to express my excitement and writing it down is way of marking the occasion. I won't want to forget how that felt.
Boys: There is a regrettably dramatic difference between the content of my pre-13 diaries and that of my current ones. Ok, so they may not make the best post-fame sellers (wink wink) but, for me, it has to be done. Not that I don't confide in my girls because, believe me, I do! But there are some things even they don't get to hear. In my diary there's no holding back!
There are obvious dangers with this of course - what if someone finds it? We-e-ell I'll just have to deal with that if the time comes. But I do hide my diaries, and besides the more I need to vent the messier my writing gets, so it's not like anyone can read them.
Those were just a few of the reasons for why I personally choose to keep a diary. I'm sure other people have better, more logical motives but I would still totally recommend it. It's definitely a worthwhile thing to do, and the best part about it is there's no binding contract. You can write in it as constantly or as infrequently as you want. It's your diary, your life! Be proud; I intend to keep a diary for the rest of my life!