Simple question? If you think it's a simple question you simply haven't thought it through. If you find it very difficult -- if you have thought it through and still don't know -- congratulations. I think that qualifies you as a journaler more than anything else.

It's hard; putting your life up there. Maybe nobody else appreciates the effort you put into it but I do. Why? Because I've tried to answer this question, and I have no idea either.

But I do it. And sometimes just wondering why I do it, well that can turn into a journal entry.

Some reasons.

To Document the Day:

Personally, I'm an absent-minded sot. For some reason, only when I write something down can I remember it.

There are times when I go to a grocery store without a list on paper, and I'm completely stupefied. What did I come in here for? However, if I write down what I need before I leave the house, sometimes I don't even need to look at the paper when I get to the store. I have the list in my back pocket if I want to refer to it but it's not always necessary. Sometimes, just documenting what I need helps me remember it.

Sometimes, just documenting my day, and how I reacted to it, helps me later on down the line when a similar situation occurs. What did I do then? Was that the wrong thing? Can I learn from that previous experience and do better this time?

To Sort out Your Life:

You think you have it tough? Try checking out Tesserae's "Under the Pink" for a moment. Here's a lass who lives with dissociative identity disorder, also known as MPD or Multiple Personalities. Sometimes she talks about her day, but sometimes her alters will filter in.

For her, the journal can be a place where she sorts through her mind; where she can spread the parts of her mind out like paint on a canvas, or objects from a picnic basket on a blanket. Then she can go back and look at it. Mull through it. Sort it out. Or maybe, like her faithful readers, just sit back and marvel at it.

It really is quite impressive. Quite courageous.

Next week we'll look at some more examples of why people choose to write journal entries. This is not a complete list, of course, but you might see a bit of yourself in some of these. If you don't, let me know why you have an online diary and I'll include your thoughts in a future article.