Are you looking to get started with your very own diary? Are you struggling to know where to start? Want to see a couple of diary entry examples from famous diaries that are sure to get you on your feet?
Well, step forth, for today we will be exploring the benefits of diary writing, what constitutes a diary entry, and a couple of examples to get you started.
What is a Diary Entry?
A diary entry is the premier form of communicating in a diary. Diary entries are typically enacted once a day, summarizing the day's events succinctly alongside how they made the user feel.
In this way, the diary entry is the lowest denominator of currency within the realms of diary writing. If you already keep a sleep diary, you know what this means.
Movies have taught us to expect each entry to begin with a 'dear diary', though there are plenty of other methodologies for the keeping of a personal diary. There have been many famous diaries - either in the form of journal entries or diary entries (there is much contention over the distinction between a journal entry and a diary entry).
The best part about this format for capturing thoughts and feelings is precisely that there are no hard and fast rules. You don't even have to write every day, though it is recommended that you adopt something of a routine - even if they happen to be short entries, it's still something to go by if you are looking to reference yourself in the future.
So, why not get started? Write a diary entry about your day today and see how it makes you feel and whether or not you can see yourself doing it much more in the future.
What are the Benefits of Keeping a Diary?
Now that we have something of an idea of what a diary is and what the entries in it pertain to, let's explore why you might want to keep one in the first place.
1. An Accurate Record
If, like most people nowadays, your memory struggles to keep up with the sheer rush of information coming at it from all angles, then you will likely find a diary invaluable as a tool for keeping track of things.
Sure, diaries have been used for centuries, but it feels like they have, peculiarly, become even more useful in a time where the sheer wealth of information available is overwhelming. More than a way to capture the plot points of life, a diary becomes a way to capture how we actually felt about things instead of just letting those feelings get swamped by dissociation.
You might also entertain fantasies of becoming famous, in which case a diary will be an invaluable tool for the writing of your autobiography. How else are you going to keep proper track of who or who not to slander against?
2. The Self
As already alluded to above, diaries are a great format for exploring you and your true self. The inward flux of information and sensory impressions in the world today can be so much that sometimes we lose ourselves even if only for a minute. These minutes, though short at first, quickly build up and start to spiral out of control.
Get a handle on yourself and capture it in the written word, putting a pin in yourself to stop you from running away from yourself.
In a lot of ways, it is reckoning with the self in this way that is going to allow you to better achieve your goals in life. With a better knowledge of yourself, you can go about fully facing the things in life that you actually care about without worrying about doing yourself a disservice.
3. Thoughts & Feelings
Everyone who's anyone needs a forum within which they can vent about the issues they might be facing. Some people turn to social media magnates like Twitter or Facebook to write their very own diary online, occupying a liminal space between private and public wherein their thoughts are shared and silently acknowledged by their followers.
Some things, though, are not as appropriate to vent in such a public forum - in fact, there are some thoughts and feelings that we have that we would rather not share with anyone. In steps the diary, bearing a pen with which to mark it with your very own private thoughts and feelings.
In a constantly online world, the diary offers a sober alternative to the hyperspeed of the internet, allowing you to slow down and get into contact with yourself, keeping track of how things really made you feel at the time and how they make you feel now.
Diary Writing Example #1
"Balbus was waiting for them at the hotel; the journey down had tried him, he said; so his two pupils had been the round of the place, in search of lodgings, without the old tutor who had been their inseparable companion from their childhood. They had named him after the hero of their Latin exercise book, which overflowed with anecdotes about that versatile genius—anecdotes whose vagueness in detail was more than compensated by their sensational brilliance. "Balbus has overcome all his enemies" had been marked by their tutor, in the margin of the book, "Successful Bravery." In this way he had tried to extract a moral from every anecdote about Balbus—sometimes one of warning, as in "Balbus had borrowed a healthy dragon," against which he had written, "Rashness in Speculation "—sometimes of encouragement, as in the words, "Influence of Sympathy in United Action," which stood opposite to the anecdote "Balbus was assisting his mother-in-law to convince the dragon"—and sometimes it dwindled down to a single word, such as "Prudence," which was all he could extract from the touching record that "Balbus, having scorched the tail of the dragon, went away." "
- Extract from The Diaries of Lewis Carroll.
Diary Writing Example #2
'Since the 21st we have had a continuous gale from W.S.W. and S.W. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.'
- Final Extract from Journals: Captain Scott's Final Expedition.
Final Words
So, there you have it! Hopefully, you are now feeling ready and inspired to start your very own diary with these tools!
FAQs Diary Entry Examples
WHAT ORDER SHOULD A DIARY ENTRY BE IN?
A diary entry should be kept in a way that most pleases the individual user in question, though many tend towards chronology simply because this is the way of much modern teaching.
HOW DO YOU WRITE A DIARY ENTRY?
There are no real rules to writing a diary entry other than honoring thyself to the best of your ability.
WHAT IS A DIARY ENTRY?
A diary entry is the premier form of communicating in a diary. Diary entries are typically enacted once a day, summarizing the day's events succinctly alongside how they made the user feel. In this way, the diary entry is the lowest denominator of currency within the realms of diary writing.
