Digital Self

I'm a hoarder. If I have some sort of sentimentality to something that I own, I will not throw it away or donate it. Take magazines for example. I have boxes filled with Game Informer issues up until 2017/2018 when I realized I wasn't reading the newest issues anymore so it didn't make sense to keep renewing the subscription. But that doesn't even compare  to the amount of Entertainment Weekly issues my mom has in the garage. I tried going into the garage a month ago to find some specific issues and I could barely find a couple. AND IT WAS A PAIN IN THE ASS TO FIND THEM! There was nowhere for me to sit, I just kinda sat on a box but the box was for clothes probably because it eventually started to melt off and fall down. If I look hard enough I can probably find them all. But that's a lot of issues, and a lot of boxes in the garage. And those are examples that I hope you can actually, like, understand. I've got other paper-things that I hoard that are a lot hard...

 After reading the prompt, I obviously began thinking about what it would be like for someone to read all my private thoughts and ideas after I am gone. I also thought about being able to read my parents, boyfriends, friends, family, etc., journals/diaries after they are gone too. I love the idea of both! Personally, I could never burn all of my journals. I would absolutely want people to read them when I am gone. I feel like since I would be gone, my loved ones would get to feel "close" to me in a way by reading my writing. It almost makes me want to start keeping a journal, even if it was only a few entries a month. I think it would be so cool to have those memories written down somewhere to share with future family members that can get to know me from my stories.  I know the thought of someone reading all of your thoughts, even secrets or opinions of certain people can be scary. But, once you are gone why would it matter? That is my feeling towards it. If I am gone, I don...

 The last people that I want to read my thoughts are those who know me, especially those who are close to me. The diaries and journals I have kept have always been a place for my deepest feelings to come to light. I would write and write and let every idea flow as fast as my pen could carry it. These feelings were not always proud moments for me. I remember a few times I wrote something down and was so immediately shocked by it that I paused writing – sometimes you do not realize how you feel until you try to put it into words. And those words can be ugly. Those words can hurt. The words of a diary lead us to a deeper part of ourselves and those same words betray us the moment someone else reads them. I remember coming back to my bedroom with some drinks and my boyfriend was sitting on my bed texting someone. He seemed a bit more tense, but I was not able to place why. This sort of thing happened a couple of times. We were in a rocky patch and I assumed that was all it was. Two t...

   I have been receiving journals and diaries as presents since I was young. Of course, I wrote about the latest hot topics, who I had a crush on and my hurt or anger towards many life events. The thought of burning my journals or diaries is so therapeutic for me. I understand the turmoil others would go through if someone read their personal pages of loneliness or grief. For myself, I have burned many pages as a child because I enjoyed the sudden rush of relief. Those pages were holding me back and there truly is not a reason to hold on to so much pain or innocence middle school slang.   When I read over my old journals I get a since of empowerment because I am no longer stuck in the bout of depression. I also enjoy just combing over what a typical day was for me back then and comparing it to how my lifestyle is today. I have nothing to hide so I would not mind anyone finding my journals and reading them. Yes, it would be invasion of privacy, but I refuse to give anyon...

   This weeks prompt is a good one. To burn the journal or not to, that is the question. In my eyes once you pass on and all the stress and anxiety from a person judging you is gone, you can be free. You no longer have to stick around trying to maintain a level of respect or compromise who you are to please others. Once your dead and gone you are freed from that aspect of life. Who cares what people think of you once your gone? Have at it for all I care. What I do want to be left behind is who I am through the eyes of the one who lived it. I want people to get the words from the horses mouth. When its my time to leave this earth, I want all my journals and diaries to be available to family and friends.    It took some brain storming to get to this concussion. People have some valid reasoning to keep their privacy or to let the people get a piece of them. As a person who is naturally curious about others and their lived experience, I think its only right to let people...

     While I do think burning a private journal is a good choice for some people, I personally would not choose to burn my diaries. I would rather go through and edit/censor myself instead of losing everything in the blaze. If I were unable to do this myself I would have to trust a friend or family member to do so for me. I would choose to trust a close friend first as they would have a bit more objectivity and less emotional connection to my thoughts than, for example, my sister. I would trust them to take out whatever didn't need to be shared with the world, rather than throwing away all of my private musings. It would feel like burning memories, not only the bad but also the good. Diaries are used to chronicle daily life with its ups and its downs, from major events to small occurrences. I would want my family and friends to be able to read about my happiest moments in those small and large ways and understand the ways they positively impacted me; I know I wish I could...

 Although I personally have never kept a personal journal or diary, I think that burning a person journal would be an amazing feeling. As a writer, I think that one of the main purposes of keeping a personal journal is to write down all of your feelings, ideas, etc. that you don't want to tell to others, but that you need to just get off your chest. Some reasons that writers turn to writing in their journal rather than just having a conversation with others is because they don't want sympathy, they don't want to be judged, and they also don't want to carry around the burden of keeping their own feelings and/or emotions a secret. With that said, I would also think that the majority of the writers that keep a personal journal would definitely not want their parents, friends, significant other, etc. reading the things that they have a written in a place that only holds so many deep emotions and possible secrets, in fear that these people will judge them or treat them diffe...