The Journal Entry

"This is private, not to be shared."

      A while back, I attended a friend's shower and was lucky enough to win a door prize! My prize was a cute new stationery set that included a floral-printed ink pen, notepad with matching clipboard, and a journal, all cased inside a beautiful box.  When I returned home later in the evening, I decided to check out my prize.  I opened the journal and flipped through the pages, just to see what the writing paper looked like (it had lines! YAY!)

     As I flipped through the journal, someone's cursive handwriting caught my eye! I thumbed back through the pages until I found what happened to be a lone, 3-page anonymous journal entry which could have been written by a male or female. The opening line read,"This is private, not to be shared".  'Private' my Arse! Not anymore! Although I had a slight feeling of guilt and wondered who in the world contributed the super-cute-but-apparently-used-door-prize, I couldn't help but to continue reading.

Some excerpts:
* "At the end of the day we are alone! That has pretty much been it for me.  A lovely friend once told me that it might indeed be my lot in life.  At the time, I didn't understand.  Now I do"... 
* "Thanks to the Dr., I learned that it was ok to make mistakes.  The key is to learn from the mistakes.  I was always so hard on myself and demanded no less than perfection of myself. Thank you Dr. H. for helping me come to know that I'm a F.H.B. (Fallible Human Being.)  I remain one to this day!"...
* "After these many years post-Dr. H., I began replaying the tapes"...
* "It brings back thoughts and feelings, and I think I'm good to go now and be brave enough to explore.  My life is good.  I am not unhappy.  Who can say that?"...
* "When the temptation starts, I re-focus and re-frame, as I was taught by someone wise.  It works!"

     So it's clear that this person has been/is counseled in some way - not sure if it's mental health issues, addiction, or a combination of both.  I'm also not sure I buy this person's new found confidence.  Especially since there was only one journal entry in an otherwise blank journal!  Apparently the journaling did not work out too well... and was tossed to the side.  And put back with the rest of the seemingly unused stationery set.  And somehow found its' way to a party, as a door prize, and later landing in my lucky, prize-winning hands.  Wow! What are the odds?!?
     I hope whoever this person is (or was?) lives a happy life now, and got the help he/she needed.
     What do you think of this person's journal entry? Have you ever kept a handwritten journal in an attempt to deal with a specific problem or issue (I have... back when I was a teen, stupid BOYS!)  Why did this person stop writing?


Thanks for stopping by! 

I also need to add that I am participating in Tuesday Following over @Kelly's Avenue.  Visit her to find out how to play along!