It doesn't have to be about today.

There are those who may disagree, but you don't have to talk about the events of today in every diary entry you write. People can argue with me all they want, but the "rules" of journaling are not written in stone, and the rules for someone else may not apply to you.

I mean besides, it gets tedious, doesn't it? Sometimes it's just nice to do something a bit different. Something to upset the normal routine.

Whether today was interesting or not, maybe there are times when you wish you didn't have to talk about today. You just lived through it. Why live through it again? Perhaps the events of today need to simmer in your mind a bit while you try to sort through it. That's okay, but what are you going to talk about in the mean time?

Two possibilities come to mind; your past and your future.

Your Past

As you're reading this entry of WriteField, it should be either close to or just after Halloween. This holiday has many fond memories for me. I would be surprised if that were not the case for you.

But recently over the years, Halloween hasn't held the mystery and excitement for me that it used to. When I was a little kid, people weren't afraid of some stranger lacing candy with drugs, or slipping razor blades into apples. We used to get dressed in silly costumes and Trick Or Treat all over the place. It was fun, but as I entered my preteen years, we'd hear news reports of horrible things that mean people did to children, by poisoning the candy they gave away. This slowly made Trick Or Treating fade away. I rarely ever see people do it anymore. Perhaps they still do it in the more upper middle class neighborhoods, or in areas where people know who their neighbors are.

Where were you ten or fifteen years ago? Or maybe not even that far back? What did you do for Halloween? Was there a haunted house you went to once that sticks out in your mind? Do you have a favorite costume you remember wearing, or someone or something that you had always wished you could dress up as but never had the chance or the necessary materials?

And Halloween's just one example. Pick a holiday, or pick your birthday, or any date that means something to you. Go back about five years and try to remember it. Write down what you can. Maybe just whatever today is, go back a few years and try to remember what you were doing this very day, five, ten, fifteen or even twenty years ago.

Go back in time in your mind, and I'm sure you'll find a journal entry in there somewhere. Then, see if you can relate a lesson learned or an event of that time to what is happening in your life today. You might be surprised at the correlations.

Maybe your past is more frightening to look back on than visiting a haunted house, but look how far you have come! And you survived it! Maybe you were abused as a child, or perhaps you once lived in a dangerous place. Maybe you're an alcoholic or drug abuser, and you can recall holidays of your past in rehab or at AA meetings. What was that like? And pat yourself on the back that you're still alive!

Your Future

It's hard to fortell the future, but we all have hopes and dreams and fears. They're based on what we've learned from our past coupled with the events of our present. Everyone wonders at one time or another what will become of them.

You can write a journal entry about those fears and hopes and dreams. Where would you like to be five years from now? Where do you suspect you will be despite your hopes? Compare the two. Perhaps realistically, you'll find yourself somewhere in between.

If you have trouble thinking that far ahead, start with what you know. What plans do you have tomorrow? Where are you pretty certain you'll be for the next few days? What's your itinerary?

Then, take everything you know about your present and extrapolate. If you're a freshman in college, odds are you'll be in college for the next three or four years. Hopefully by the time it's five years from now you'll have graduated with a bachelor's degree at the very least. What do you plan to do with it? Where do you hope it will take you?

What will the people you know now be like five or ten years from now? Can you imagine your children grown? Your little toddler asking for the car keys to go out on a date?

Start with what is logical. Try to extrapolate from what you know for certain to what might possibly be. You'll probably look back on this journal entry in five years and laugh, or maybe you'll be surprised at just how accurate your "predictions" actually were.

Final Thoughts

Talking about "today" every day, that might work for some people. However, if you're a little stuck, sometimes all you need is a bit of a change from the standard routine.

A look back at your past can help you understand your present. A look at your future can help you prepare for it. If you want something in your future, there are probably things you have to do now to make those hopes and dreams happen.

If that doesn't help you write a journal entry or two, come back next week and we'll try something else.