On Keeping a Notebook

I find it amusing that the author had such a vivid imagination at the age of 5. In reference to the story about the women dying in the Sahara desert, I find it a bit more outstanding that she was able to convey her thoughts onto paper at that age as well. Looking back myself and my childhood, I always wanted to or told myself that I should keep a journal of the day’s events. However I never started one or took the next step into starting one partly because I knew that if I ever were to start one, it would probably have ended up in the hands of one of my siblings, or lost, or forgotten after a few days or writing in it. So I never did it.

Later in my teenage years I also pondered the thought of keeping a journal but again I shot down the idea. By the time I took the idea of keeping a journal into consideration for a second time I figured I wouldn’t need it. I thought I could remember everything that was going on in my life, every person’s name, every memory and experience. Sad to say that I’m 20 years old now and I don’t remember many of my peer’s names, a lot of my middle school days are stored deep inside my memory without much access to them. I find myself speaking with old friends sometimes and they’ll recollect experiences we shared that I have vague recollections about.

I guess it was up to me whether I should have kept a journal throughout my childhood and youth and it’s my fault for not doing it, but I don’t regret it. Keeping a journal on the day’s events would be meaningless if you did not write down how it affected you. You might as well be reading about someone else’s day. I like that the author kept a notebook and only wrote in the random thoughts that popped into her head and how it felt to her. That is what allows her to reach back into that notebook decades later and feel what she felt at the time. It makes each entry in the notebook unique in that each has its own feel to it, its own personal touch. Instead of reading the same thing in each entry about what you ate for lunch that day as you can step into that world through your memories and even if it’s for a split second, you get to be in touch with the old you. You feel what it felt like to be that old kid again. And who doesn’t want that?

Reading this essay has almost convinced me into keeping a notebook the likes of which Didion kept so that at least I can be in touch with my 20 year old self 20 years from now, if of course ever decide to read it then or even start one now.