Reflecting on Diaries: A Journey of Self-Discovery

Sometimes I worry about losing all these materials I’ve saved on my network and cloud drive. It feels like everything important in my life has become completely digital. Then it occurred to me that if someone were to suddenly pass away, all their financial informationlike bank accounts, wallets, work records, diaries, notes, etc.might just disappear without a trace, like garbage left behind after time eroded them.

During my undergraduate years, I wrote my diary by hand. Later, everything was uploaded to the cloud. After earning my doctorate, I started writing my diary on a computer. When I looked back at both types of diaries, I felt that handwritten ones were better because they allowed me more time to think and express myself poetically. Typed diaries seem rushed when typing too quickly before completing thoughts, resulting in choppy sentences but stronger critical thinking.

Keeping a diary since high school has been helpful because now looking back on the past, I can see how my perception of life changed as my spiritual world wobbled. I can see how my views on beauty and pain, love and evil, sin and remorse evolved over time. Seeing each step I’ve taken to reach where I am todayeven those ordinary days that don’t seem appealingstill makes me feel moved.

It’s amazing to realize that we all forget things we once cherished. I even don’t remember if I was like this before. I used to be so (crossed out, making a ). Now I’m still (also crossed out).

Reflecting on past diaries has inspired me. Life is truly remarkable because we can live, think, and feel. Time is fleeting, so there’s no need to conform to societal expectations. There are countless imaginations in our minds that transcend meaning, beauty, and even existence itself; they surpass everything else. We can confirm the presence of our existence through past diaries. The me from earlier was given some evidence by the me now. We are all different from one another, and we are all unique individuals.

We are all alone but also free in this world.