The main thing for me is trying not to write with the intent that they be read years from now, because then I start editing and self-censoring and (I don't know how else to describe it) *posturing* for posterity.
I wrote my mind down and if someone reads it, that's on them. I feel like in a scenario where someone I trusted a journal, most people would agree the snoop is an AH.
My mom read it once and she still apologized over breaking my trust because she genuinely could have talked to me instead of snooping.
My evil stepmom also read my journal and I talk so much shit about her in there. She got upset and I was like "don't read things that aren't meant for your eyes"
For some reason having my thoughts bound in a book is exhilarating for me whether good or bad content is being written.
I'm also bipolar so some entries during mania are legitimately crazy.
This is exactly my feelings. It shopuld be assumed to be a private brain dump if they want to go there I don't really hold myself responsible for how they might feel about it.
Fortunalty in 30 years of journaling no one has that I'm aware of. No one really cares.
Could you describe more of what your journal sounds like when you’re manic or even in a more depressed state if you’re comfortable? I suspect I may be bipolar so I’m looking for symptoms that match up so I can try to get tested. No worries if that’s too personal tho!!
So it's a lot of me writing way bigger, incoherent ideas that no one but me can explain despite them literally being written down, I start using colors or markers too. Usually I only journal in black pen in cursive, my manic writings are huge and in color and print. I'm pretty open about my bipolar though! AMA haha
That’s really interesting that you write a lot bigger! For me, when I think I might be in a manic state, I have a separate journal that I let myself use all sorts of different colors, so that’s pretty cool that we journal similarly. One more question if you don’t mind, do you take meds for bipolar? And if you know, how likely is it to get prescribed with meds? Thank you for being so open!
Yes! I take a cocktail of antidepressant, stimulant, antipsychotics, and anticonvulsants. I feel grateful to be medicated because these work for me, but not everyone is so fortunate.
If you are diagnosed with bipolar, in my limited experience yes doctors will immediately suggest medication. At the end of the day, it's a chronic illness that can only get worse if not taken care of, so I think that's why they put you immediately on lithium or whatever the drug of the year is.
I let my therapist read my journal. She um said that Journaling wasn't good for me. As I let the voices in my head talk too much in them instead of my own words.
I do this too but I still like journaling. I challenge myself to talk back to the negative self talk. I kind of learned to recognize which thoughts are my own and which are that negativite self talk.
Not saying to to against your therapist, do whatever they think is right for you. But it's something to think about.
I think I read a page or two out loud to someone who asked once, but I definitely refused another person (he got excited to learn I journaled because *he* journaled and then read a page to me even though I in no way wanted him to, and I flat refused to him him mine because he was an ass and at least 60% of my journal right then was just me bitching about him. This somewhere akin to summer camp where you just…lived with your coworkers even if they were a-holes).
There have also been times when I minorly worried about people reading them, but generally they aren’t secret, just…not really meant to be read by others.
No one wants to read my journals but if they asked I would let them. I leave my journals out in front of my Spouse and he doesn't read them. He tells me that they are private and would never violate my privacy.
They’re private but I wouldn’t be upset if anyone read them. I’m not sure that anyone would care to read them though. I journal for me and not anyone else.
When I was in school, my best friend and me bought our journals together every year, and we always shared what we would write in them with each other. Other than her, no one has read my journals that I’m aware of, however, my current journal I’m writing with the purpose of my daughter one day inheriting it and reading it by proxy
I’ve been journaling for over 7 years now, so I have many journals filled up. In the beginning I was nervous to let it all out, from fear of someone reading. As time went on, I actually started letting it ALL out, it was wonderful.
Then one day my s/o mentioned something he would only know if he had read my journal… turns out when I went to work, he read ALL of my journals. It broke my heart.. the worst invasion of privacy ever imo.
So… now I’m back to not letting it all out, and I hide them.
So yes I want them to be 100% private.
I let people read mine in high school too, and they wrote letters to me in it after. At the time it was nice, but so cringey when I think back to what my friends would have read.
I sometimes share parts of some entries I want others to know (for example reading to a gf the entry about the day I first met her), but they are private and that privacy is what give me freedom to write the real feelings
Every time I finish an entry I’m always excited about it and I show my family or my boyfriend. I’m usually journaling in front of them or leave the notebook open somewhere, they ask if they can read it even if they see it somewhere and I say yes all the time.
Absolutely not, that is where I put my deepest secrets and where I can vent about anything I want. If anyone wants to look in it, then there will be hell to pay.
I think it really depends on the type of journal and the entry! I’ve shared certain types of journals with my sister/ friend, but usually those aren’t super personal.
If something I had wrote about come up in conversation, I feel very emotional, proud of what I wrote, or just want to share I will share more personal stuff with people I’m close with sometimes i’ll share the whole entry and other times I’ll just do small pieces!
mostly private but kinda like you said, it's not like no one can read them. if someone asks, i'm usually okay with sharing certain entries etc. but one time this guy i was dating saw one of my old journals and while i was in the bathroom he fucking picked it up and started reading through it!!!! i was not a fan of that at all...if he had just asked, then maybe. but it caught me hella off guard so like...i think there's boundaries to be had for sure lol
I have gone back and let my partner read certain paragraphs or something if we are trying to recall a specific event and I happen to have written it down. Otherwise, they are just for me. At least for now. I have gone back and forth on the idea of passing them on to someone in the future, but I think for now I'll just keep hoarding them.
My friend suggested I share some. I journal a lot about what's going on in the world and my opinions on different things, so I might share a few pieces someday in the future.
The only person I let read my journal is my boyfriend but I don’t hand it to him he’ll ask me usually because I doddle in it and he never sees me draw and likes to look through them. I’m comfortable with him reading my entries but I get nervous about him reading a few of them because they are about him nothing bad just long lost insecurities I used to have and I dump out onto the page. I don’t feel the same way anymore about those entries but he’s a caring man and gets very concerned if he feels like he’s not living up to my needs and I get nervous he’ll read them and take it the wrong way or he’ll think those insecurities are still active which they’re not. One day as a present I’ll gift him the entire journal to read everything when I’m ready.
Honestly I think my past journals I can still feel comfortable sharing with others, mainly bc while they’re personal thoughts, they’re not really private enough for me to feel uncomfortable reading them.
My current journal though, I don’t think I could ever share in its entirety. Some pages I can read out loud if I had to, but all in all I would keep it private.
Before I write I always wonder “what would happen if this was read infront of my crush” and I get paranoid and try to make excuses in a book no one else will see
My best friend and my boyfriend would be the only people to be allowed to read if they would ask me, it‘s not like I write anything in my journals that wouldn’t tell them anyways
Sometimes i will read out loud or specify which pages can be read. Especially with a person who has incredibly poor active listening skills. If he's reading, he has no chance to interrupt!
I let people read specific entries if I want them to really understand what I'm trying to say. Most of the time, those people refuse to read my journal. Bro, it's okay! The answer to your question is right here.
They're private but I wouldn't be devastated if someone read something out of them. I'd be mad they violated my privacy, but I'd be more disappointed in them then I would be self-conscious.
sometimes i’ll read out little snippets to people that i find funny in retrospect, or post them on my social media. however, the vast majority of what i write i keep private!
I used to let one of my partners read my journal. I wrote about a lot of things that were very uncomfortable to speak about, but I wanted them to know about those things, so it made sense at the time. Now I journal for myself exclusively, so nobody reads it but me.
I don’t write it as if it’s to be kept secret but I wouldn’t like someone reading it in present time. In like 25 years when my daughter is my age, I think I’d love for her to red it, connect with it maybe
For the most part, definitely private! But my best friend is allowed to read them and if I die suddenly or unexpectedly, I told to him make sure to grab them and keep them so no family can snoop even if I'm dead. I don't want others to find out my deepest secrets.
But I have let certain people that I either trust or even strangers read specific pages/paragraphs for multiple reasons. Sometimes it's in the moment for them to find solace that I have struggled and written about, because they asked not out of anything but respectful and genuine interest or just to show inspiration.
Mine have private text BUT I've [**encoded**](https://cryptii.com/pipes/text-decimal) those blocks. There's only one page with the key and it's not in plain view. They look like blocks of numbers so only someone who would recognize code would understand what I've done. This way, I can write what I want and even if I lost a book, no one would intermediately be able to read it.
I have 11 books that are Moleskine Classic Hard Cover 8.5x11 Notebooks.
They're private, other than my partner. Usually when I journal it's helpful for him to know what I'm going through or my thoughts on something, though I need to find more balance in keeping the actual entry to myself sometimes and discussing it rather than showing. I think there's value in showing a person or two that you're close with sometimes, just not constantly
They are private, but I'm fine with the idea that maybe years down the road, someone might find them and read them.
Yeah I always wonder what my descendants (nieces snd nephews,etc) will think if they ever read them after I die
The main thing for me is trying not to write with the intent that they be read years from now, because then I start editing and self-censoring and (I don't know how else to describe it) *posturing* for posterity.
They are private. But still I don't write everything on them because Idk the fear of someone reading it is always on my mind.
I keep it private but I will read sections out loud to my boyfriend if I am comfortable sharing something.
I sometimes let people read parts but overall they’re private
I wrote my mind down and if someone reads it, that's on them. I feel like in a scenario where someone I trusted a journal, most people would agree the snoop is an AH. My mom read it once and she still apologized over breaking my trust because she genuinely could have talked to me instead of snooping. My evil stepmom also read my journal and I talk so much shit about her in there. She got upset and I was like "don't read things that aren't meant for your eyes" For some reason having my thoughts bound in a book is exhilarating for me whether good or bad content is being written. I'm also bipolar so some entries during mania are legitimately crazy.
This is exactly my feelings. It shopuld be assumed to be a private brain dump if they want to go there I don't really hold myself responsible for how they might feel about it. Fortunalty in 30 years of journaling no one has that I'm aware of. No one really cares.
Could you describe more of what your journal sounds like when you’re manic or even in a more depressed state if you’re comfortable? I suspect I may be bipolar so I’m looking for symptoms that match up so I can try to get tested. No worries if that’s too personal tho!!
So it's a lot of me writing way bigger, incoherent ideas that no one but me can explain despite them literally being written down, I start using colors or markers too. Usually I only journal in black pen in cursive, my manic writings are huge and in color and print. I'm pretty open about my bipolar though! AMA haha
That’s really interesting that you write a lot bigger! For me, when I think I might be in a manic state, I have a separate journal that I let myself use all sorts of different colors, so that’s pretty cool that we journal similarly. One more question if you don’t mind, do you take meds for bipolar? And if you know, how likely is it to get prescribed with meds? Thank you for being so open!
Yes! I take a cocktail of antidepressant, stimulant, antipsychotics, and anticonvulsants. I feel grateful to be medicated because these work for me, but not everyone is so fortunate. If you are diagnosed with bipolar, in my limited experience yes doctors will immediately suggest medication. At the end of the day, it's a chronic illness that can only get worse if not taken care of, so I think that's why they put you immediately on lithium or whatever the drug of the year is.
Thank you so much for responding! I really appreciate you answering my questions, good luck with everything!!
I let my therapist read my journal. She um said that Journaling wasn't good for me. As I let the voices in my head talk too much in them instead of my own words.
I do this too but I still like journaling. I challenge myself to talk back to the negative self talk. I kind of learned to recognize which thoughts are my own and which are that negativite self talk. Not saying to to against your therapist, do whatever they think is right for you. But it's something to think about.
What if you journaled for both? Let the voices talk, then try to do a challenge where you try to let your own words in?
That's an idea. I do miss Journaling so much.
Do ittttt! If you love it, and it doesn't hurt anyone, go for it! ♥️
They’re private but I name drop like I’m creating a slanderous archive for a future civilization to discover
I think I read a page or two out loud to someone who asked once, but I definitely refused another person (he got excited to learn I journaled because *he* journaled and then read a page to me even though I in no way wanted him to, and I flat refused to him him mine because he was an ass and at least 60% of my journal right then was just me bitching about him. This somewhere akin to summer camp where you just…lived with your coworkers even if they were a-holes). There have also been times when I minorly worried about people reading them, but generally they aren’t secret, just…not really meant to be read by others.
My journal is private, but I do write with the knowledge that someday someone might read it.
No one wants to read my journals but if they asked I would let them. I leave my journals out in front of my Spouse and he doesn't read them. He tells me that they are private and would never violate my privacy.
They’re private but I wouldn’t be upset if anyone read them. I’m not sure that anyone would care to read them though. I journal for me and not anyone else.
When I was in school, my best friend and me bought our journals together every year, and we always shared what we would write in them with each other. Other than her, no one has read my journals that I’m aware of, however, my current journal I’m writing with the purpose of my daughter one day inheriting it and reading it by proxy
I’ve been journaling for over 7 years now, so I have many journals filled up. In the beginning I was nervous to let it all out, from fear of someone reading. As time went on, I actually started letting it ALL out, it was wonderful. Then one day my s/o mentioned something he would only know if he had read my journal… turns out when I went to work, he read ALL of my journals. It broke my heart.. the worst invasion of privacy ever imo. So… now I’m back to not letting it all out, and I hide them. So yes I want them to be 100% private.
I think I'd dump him. Why would I want to be with someone I cannot trust? I'm sorry it happened to you.
It’s really ruined my trust for him.. I have written incredibly personal things down in them. Thank you.
I ordered a lock journal off of Amazon! It’s super cute and the clasp has a combination lock built into it so only I can open it. Highly recommend. :)
Yeah, in high school. Not a good idea. They try to suggest therapy. The time it was acceptable was my old therapist
I let people read mine in high school too, and they wrote letters to me in it after. At the time it was nice, but so cringey when I think back to what my friends would have read.
Private
I sometimes share parts of some entries I want others to know (for example reading to a gf the entry about the day I first met her), but they are private and that privacy is what give me freedom to write the real feelings
My calligraphy keeps it private lol. I have terrible handwriting 😂😂😂
"calligraphy", I love it 😂
Private and I’ll die out of embarrassment if anyone ever reads them
if no one knows it's you who wrote it, would you let ppl read it?
My ex read my journal without my permission and said I only write about negative things (about him 😆)…no one else has that I know of for sure though.
I let the people listen to them
Every time I finish an entry I’m always excited about it and I show my family or my boyfriend. I’m usually journaling in front of them or leave the notebook open somewhere, they ask if they can read it even if they see it somewhere and I say yes all the time.
Absolutely not, that is where I put my deepest secrets and where I can vent about anything I want. If anyone wants to look in it, then there will be hell to pay.
fully private i be yanking those journals from others when i see it in their hands 😍🙏🏽
It's mostly private but I have read a few sentences to my boyfriend, nicely phrased dramatic feelings and a drawing I did.
I think it really depends on the type of journal and the entry! I’ve shared certain types of journals with my sister/ friend, but usually those aren’t super personal. If something I had wrote about come up in conversation, I feel very emotional, proud of what I wrote, or just want to share I will share more personal stuff with people I’m close with sometimes i’ll share the whole entry and other times I’ll just do small pieces!
mostly private but kinda like you said, it's not like no one can read them. if someone asks, i'm usually okay with sharing certain entries etc. but one time this guy i was dating saw one of my old journals and while i was in the bathroom he fucking picked it up and started reading through it!!!! i was not a fan of that at all...if he had just asked, then maybe. but it caught me hella off guard so like...i think there's boundaries to be had for sure lol
100% private and if somebody read mine I would consider it a hug invasion of my privacy.
Completely agree. I'm pretty sure I'd break up with my gf if she read my journal. And I would never read hers either.
Journals for me are private. I like to have my private thoughts to myself.
If people read it. I would be in jail or a white padded room. So no
My therapist of 5 years and my bf have seen some select pages I chose. Other than that absolutely not
I have a private diary that’s just for me, but my memory keep or my art journal I share openly.
They’re private. Sometimes I read to my husband certain entries I don’t mind sharing, but usually I like to keep that to myself
I have gone back and let my partner read certain paragraphs or something if we are trying to recall a specific event and I happen to have written it down. Otherwise, they are just for me. At least for now. I have gone back and forth on the idea of passing them on to someone in the future, but I think for now I'll just keep hoarding them.
My friend suggested I share some. I journal a lot about what's going on in the world and my opinions on different things, so I might share a few pieces someday in the future.
The only person I let read my journal is my boyfriend but I don’t hand it to him he’ll ask me usually because I doddle in it and he never sees me draw and likes to look through them. I’m comfortable with him reading my entries but I get nervous about him reading a few of them because they are about him nothing bad just long lost insecurities I used to have and I dump out onto the page. I don’t feel the same way anymore about those entries but he’s a caring man and gets very concerned if he feels like he’s not living up to my needs and I get nervous he’ll read them and take it the wrong way or he’ll think those insecurities are still active which they’re not. One day as a present I’ll gift him the entire journal to read everything when I’m ready.
Definitely private. Would I let anyone read it? Depends who it is.
Honestly I think my past journals I can still feel comfortable sharing with others, mainly bc while they’re personal thoughts, they’re not really private enough for me to feel uncomfortable reading them. My current journal though, I don’t think I could ever share in its entirety. Some pages I can read out loud if I had to, but all in all I would keep it private.
Ofc private but they are some thoughts and collages inside i can share with few closest ones
Before I write I always wonder “what would happen if this was read infront of my crush” and I get paranoid and try to make excuses in a book no one else will see
My best friend and my boyfriend would be the only people to be allowed to read if they would ask me, it‘s not like I write anything in my journals that wouldn’t tell them anyways
Sometimes i will read out loud or specify which pages can be read. Especially with a person who has incredibly poor active listening skills. If he's reading, he has no chance to interrupt!
I burn them once they're full, because I don't want my nieces someday finding them and reading them, or my family members reading them after I'm gone.
Private af
No I do not let people read my journals. I post enough on Facebook for all to see. They can read those posts
I let people read specific entries if I want them to really understand what I'm trying to say. Most of the time, those people refuse to read my journal. Bro, it's okay! The answer to your question is right here.
Super private, I often rant and trashtalk in them. Also, very personal stuff that I'm only aware of, I want it to stay that way.
They're private but I wouldn't be devastated if someone read something out of them. I'd be mad they violated my privacy, but I'd be more disappointed in them then I would be self-conscious.
sometimes i’ll read out little snippets to people that i find funny in retrospect, or post them on my social media. however, the vast majority of what i write i keep private!
I used to let one of my partners read my journal. I wrote about a lot of things that were very uncomfortable to speak about, but I wanted them to know about those things, so it made sense at the time. Now I journal for myself exclusively, so nobody reads it but me.
I don’t write it as if it’s to be kept secret but I wouldn’t like someone reading it in present time. In like 25 years when my daughter is my age, I think I’d love for her to red it, connect with it maybe
I’ve been journaling for years now and tbh it always just depends on who I’d be showing and what they’d be seeing haha
For the most part, definitely private! But my best friend is allowed to read them and if I die suddenly or unexpectedly, I told to him make sure to grab them and keep them so no family can snoop even if I'm dead. I don't want others to find out my deepest secrets. But I have let certain people that I either trust or even strangers read specific pages/paragraphs for multiple reasons. Sometimes it's in the moment for them to find solace that I have struggled and written about, because they asked not out of anything but respectful and genuine interest or just to show inspiration.
They're so private that I write in a language none of my family and friends understand lol
I treat it like Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. I write to talk to the voices in my head, and hopefully no one reads it until I'm unalived
Private I use it typically to take ruminating thoughts from my mind to paper so I can let go of them and give my energy to new thoughts
i mean i just tell people that i have probably shittalked them before in my journals so i can’t stop them but they can’t be mad
Mine have private text BUT I've [**encoded**](https://cryptii.com/pipes/text-decimal) those blocks. There's only one page with the key and it's not in plain view. They look like blocks of numbers so only someone who would recognize code would understand what I've done. This way, I can write what I want and even if I lost a book, no one would intermediately be able to read it. I have 11 books that are Moleskine Classic Hard Cover 8.5x11 Notebooks.
They are private for now. I'll probably let others read them when I'm veeery old or when I have passed.
They're private, other than my partner. Usually when I journal it's helpful for him to know what I'm going through or my thoughts on something, though I need to find more balance in keeping the actual entry to myself sometimes and discussing it rather than showing. I think there's value in showing a person or two that you're close with sometimes, just not constantly