Reasons Why Keeping a Diary is Worth it

The Greek word for "remember" is μνήμη, or mnimi. When mnimi is used in writing, it suggests looking back, reminiscing, or dwelling on the past.

When the preposition ana is added, however, it gives the word an entirely different connotation. The word αναμνησία, or anamnesis still translates to "remember" but becomes far more complex than just memory. Anamnesis is associated with incorporating memory into today, and bringing the past into the present.

The other day, I had almost reached the end of my list of quarantine activities, when I came across my old diary. And I can say with certainty that while deciphering the scribbled, nearly illegible handwriting of my 9 year-old self, I was experiencing a fair amount of ananmesis. 

Now, I know keeping a diary might not seem worth the effort. It may seem more appealing to spend the 20 minutes it would take to write an entry catching up on an episode of your favourite show, or scrolling through Instagram. Writing regularly takes discipline, and more often than not you might feel uninspired and unmotivated. Or maybe the thought of keeping a diary seems silly or embarrassing.

But there are a couple of reasons I think keeping a diary is absolutely worthwhile.

When you go through your life, you have no way of distinguishing another run-of-the-mill event from something formative and impactful. What might seem unimportant and ordinary at the time could end up crucial, and unless you've bookmarked your experiences, you have no way of realizing which aspects of your life have shaped you.

And maybe that seems absurd. I mean, if something was that important, people would remember it by themselves, right? People don't tend to forget their graduation, their first job, their wedding day. We don't forget our childhood pets or our loved ones. Some things seem ingrained in our memories forever.

Well, that's true to an extent.

According to a 2012 Northwestern Medicine study, our brains work like a game of Broken Telephone. You know- that game you probably played in elementary school, where everyone sits in a circle, and takes turns whispering a sentence into the next person's ear? By the time the message reaches the end of the circle, it usually changes considerably.

Similarly, when we remember a past event, our nervous system adjusts in such a way that alters the memory. So, the next time we remember that event, we aren't actually remembering it: we're remembering the last time we remembered it.

Donna Bridge, one of the lead authors of the Journal of Neuroscience at Northwestern University put it like this: "Your memory of an event can grow less precise even to the point of being totally false with each retrieval."

Our memories are constantly changing, and a diary becomes a timestamp that anchors our memories and keeps them accurate.

But why should we care? Why should we care which events were important? Why should we care that every detail of our memory is true?

Because one of the most important parts of being a whole, well-rounded person is by integrating your past self with your present self.

A common practice used by therapists is to have their patients write 'Transactional Letters' to their past selves. It validates and authenticizes the past, and is a way of consolidating who the patients are with who they were. It allows them to take a step back and say "I'm glad for what I went through, because it made me who I am today."

Transanctional letters to the past are so effective because someone's most current self is a continuation of all their past values, struggles, and successes.

When I went through my old diary last week, I found myself saying, "Wow, I loved drawing so much back then" or "I didn't realize how close I was with my old friends," or whatever it was about my entries that I found alluring. And on top of being a fun way to pass the time, reading my diary helped me integrate all my past interests and experiences with who I am today.

While a diary isn't necessarily the only way, it's certainly a helpful tool to extend your mnimi into anemnesis, and fully bring the past into the present.

And that's why keeping a diary is worth it.