The Isolation Journals - Day 55

Prompt:  Write a journal entry about why you journal. Are there certain stories or forms you gravitate toward? People or places you prefer to leave out? Do you imagine anyone reading your entries? Do you notice a difference between journaling with prompts and without? As a private practice or one you share with others?

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Getting meta, indeed.

Why do I write?  That's like asking why I breathe.  It's an exhalation of thought.  I have to.

I mean, I won't die if I don't write, it isn't that dire, but it's close.  I guess it's more like holding in a burp or a fart.  Sometimes, when you're in polite company, you keep it together.  But when you have a moment to yourself, you gotta let it rip.

There have been times when I didn't write, and without realizing it at the time, I felt stifled.  Like when someone makes a healthy change in their lifestyle and begins to feel better, I didn't realize how bad I was feeling until I discovered it was possible to feel better.  Not bad as in depressed, mostly just uncomfortable, like an over-inflated bike tire, ready to burst.

I write to entertain, at least that's the hope.  I write to make sense of what I believe, how I feel.  I seldom write without an audience in mind, even if realistically the audience is usually a party of one (hi, mom!).  I do love writing from a prompt, as we all know restriction breeds creativity.  However, in non-pandemic times, my life and the world at large usually provide enough fodder.  When I write without an external prompt, I'm usually telling a story about a specific event in my life or opining on a current event.  Often that writing takes shape as a comedy set, or a blog post, or both.  

There's always an audience, however small.  If I didn't want another soul to read something, I'd probably never write it down in the first place, though I'm not judging people who write only for themselves.  People who keep private diaries - what motivates you to do that?  Do you write things you truly don't want to share?  What happens if someone reads your diary, without your consent or after you're gone?