[sittingatwatersedge]

on workdays I leave home very early in the am (like, duckhunters' hours when I would far rather be ) and frequently I am just running on batteries.

came home one day recently and was horrified to discover that I had left my journal on the kitchen table instead of taking it with me.

DH said he had not read it, sady I don't believe it, unless my writing was just too bad to decipher.

wondering... if you keep a journal, where do you keep it?

[lifelesstraveled]

i live with my parents temporarily and I used to keep my journal in my "junk drawer" of my dresser. I had this feeling that someone was going in my room (I tend to notice the smallest changes in my room--not that it's container store organized...its actually an organized mess--but I know where everything is and how i left it) so threw out EVERYTHING personal (journals, drawings etc).

I told T and she suggested that I keep my journal with me...Since I always carry ridiculously large purses that probably closely resemble carry on luggage LOL JK, I purchased a new one and now never leave home with out it. You probably didnt need to know all of that. But depending on the size of your journal I would keep it in your purse if that is possible, so you have it with you safe and sound

The old ones I keep in a locked safe. Current one is on my computer (password protected). I'm glad I'm not the only one who has grappled with this problem. I find journaling so helpful, and I would hate to have to give it up over privacy concerns.

I think it is just too much temptation for others not to read if they come across it, so locking it seems to be the best option for now.

[cmac13]

When I was a young girl around the age of 10 I was given a diary with one of those cheap locks on it. One key fits all! Anyways I used to write in it the most intimate details of my young life, all of my sadness and wants and needs. My sister would read it and tell my mother what was in it. After I found out that they were reading it and my mother was angry with what I wrote, I began writing what I thought she would like to read...only good stuff and made up good stuff. Eventually I quit the charade and never went back to actually writing in a diary or journal...

What I have done over the past 10 years has been an art journal. Not many words but images, drawings, paintings, photos, collages... I feel that the art is less easy to interpret by any one who might see it. Usually what I would do is work in my art journal and fill it up and then throw it away after all of the pages were used up. I told my therapist that I threw them out. She asked me why I would do that. I explained about the lack of privacy I grew up with.

Over the past year I have brought my art journals to my sessions and my therapist and I talk about what I have worked on during the week. She is the only person I share the images with and she knows this. I however do not throw them away anymore. In fact we discussed this in sessions and she pointed out that since I live with only my husband now and he could care less about what was in them that it is safe to assume no one will be looking through them at my house. Which is true and my art is kept on bookshelves in my library at home.

I actually keep my journal right next to my chair in the living room. I don't lock it up. If my husband picks it up and doesn't like something he reads, that's his problem, not mine. That's what he gets for picking it up. He keeps a journal too, and he also keeps his right by his chair. I guess we just respect each other enough not to worry about it. I keep my old ones in my bottom dresser drawer.

[3velniai]

My journal is in my PC, in a hidden folder in a place you would never expect to find a journal and of course it is password protected

[searchingmysoul]

This thread reminded me that I forgot my therapy journal today!!!! I went home and got it because I have T tonight.

That journal is the only journal I keep. I usually write in it after T but sometimes I will write in it some feelings/things over the week between sessions. I keep it on my nightstand by my side of the bed and I don't keep it hidden. As far as I know my DH doesn't look at it. I probably wouldn't know if he did look at it, except for some possible sideways glances that might occur because he thinks I've gone batty, although I'd probably never notice those either, lol.

I like LLT's idea of always keeping it with you.

(((((Sitting)))))

Sorry your H may have seen it that can't feel very good.

[Yoda]

When I was being abused by my boyfriend I kept a diary on my computer and used the option for password required for access. I also used a title for the diary that didn't suggest what it really was but something he would not have been interested in like "low carb recipes".

[Elysium]

I live alone, so logically I know that there are no issues about privacy, however, I am always concerned that people may sneak into my home and steal it while going through my stuff, or one of my friends or family members will be snooping around.

My solution....I keep it hidden and out of sight......right next to my 9mm Glock pistol. Nobody wants to go freackin near that!! They no better than to go near my peacemaker!!

When I was little my mom would read my diaries and then I would get in trouble for what was in them...so I stopped keeping them.

Then in Junior High I had a journal and some girl found it and passed it around at school (where I was the new kid - we had just moved from out of state). It was AWFUL. I didn't put ANYTHING in writing after that for years and years and years.

I just started journalling again when I started therapy. I know my H wouldn't read what it is in it - he really isn't that curious about things. But I am REALLY paranoid about my mom finding it when she is here babysitting my kids - so I keep it on a high shelf in my closet in a bag under a bunch of stuff. Which sucks, because it's too hard to get to, so I never write in it!!! Need a better system. Hmmm.

I started keeping a diary when I was 8 or 9, all the way through high school. I always wondered if my mom or brother was reading them, so I threw them out when I went off to college. I hid diaries in college in my undies drawer, usually. And now that I live by myself, I still hide it - in a storage drawer with a bunch of videotapes. I also have some personal files on my computer, a list of things I want to discuss in therapy, that are password-protected.

[mightaswelllive]

I always carry mine

[chaotic13]

I've been pretty protective of my thoughts and art work. I keep my jounal on my computer and it is password protected and kept on a jumpdrive the stays with me. I also keep things on my blackberry but usually download it to my journal and clear it just in case someone grabs my phone.

My artwork was kept in a folder and until recently buried in a stack of work piles. However this stopped when I H somehow found it and look at some of my drawing. Ever since then all personal reflections are on high security. I did recently purchase a digital drawing pad. Anyone who draws I would HIGHLY recommend getting one. I LOVE it and now I can keep my drawings password protected too.

[peaches100]

I kept a diary as a child, and recorded all of my angst in it. Then, when i was getting married and going through my stuff, i came across my 5th grade diary. There were so many painful emotions regarding my family that i felt ashamed and threw it away. I feared that somehow, in some way, my parents or sister would find it and would be hurt by reading what I'd written about them. Years later, now that I'm in therapy, I wish I'd kept that diary. It would have helped tremendously in understanding the things i went through, much of it that i don't remember now.

A few years ago, when i fell into a deep clinical depression, i started keeping a journal. Since I was having some problems with my husband, which i wrote about, i kept my journal at a good friend's (I thought) house, because, just as in childhood, i didn't want him to read it and know i was feeling so badly about him. Unfortunately, when my friendship with this woman ended, she refused to return my journal (and many other things I'd stored there, including original poems I'd written). I asked her to either destroy it or return it, but she never did. i hate so badly that she has that journal of mine but i couldn't bring myself to press any charges. I'd opened up to her so much during my depression and she knows things about me that could be used as "fuel" now, should i press the issue or make any problems with her.

I still keep a journal today, though I will probably never share it with anyone or EVER EVER entrust it into someone else's hands. My husband bought me a lock box, and i keep completed journals in there. I keep my current journal in a drawer by the bed. It's not locked up, but my husband wouldn't read it anyway. Since my husband bought me the lock box, i trust now that he'd respect my privacy. I also have an electronic journal on Blogger, which is private. My e-journal is also backed up on my C: drive at home.

Peaches, I'm so sorry that your ex-friend kept your journal - how awful that you had to go through that!

Years later, now that I'm in therapy, I wish I'd kept that diary. It would have helped tremendously in understanding the things i went through, much of it that i don't remember now.

I feel exactly the same way - how I would love to have those diaries that I started keeping from age 8! It's been very eye-opening just going back and reading my journals I've kept since I was out of high school.