Monday, 17 January 2011

A dose of daily diary writing

I have just finished reading Mark Walton-Cook's article in the Telegraph entitled, How-to-get-through-Blue-Monday. He says that the website Mentaline.com has declared today "Blue Monday". I always thought it was next Monday that was meant to be the worst day of the year for us, as we all wrestle with post Christmas stress, bills and family problems.  Mr Walton-Cook recommends twelve 'cheap and cheerful suggestions to get you through Blue Monday'.They vary from 'give to charity' and 'get singing' to 'go barefoot ' and 'get flirty'. Finally he suggests 'write a diary' and focus on the good things in our lives.
I kept a diary for many years. It seems to run in our family and I have my father's wartime diaries recording his reaction to war being declared and his visit to America for the first time as part of his pilot training. My sister declared she had burnt her teenage diaries as they were full of such angst. I stopped writing mine for a while when The Curate declared it was anti social to write private diaries in bed last thing at night. But I still record my thoughts and feelings when I am trying to sort out how I feel about situations. Today's newspaper article prompted me to reread my writings from when The Curate decided he wanted to work full time for the church. The confusion, anger and rejection I felt are there on each page. There is a clear sense of isolation as I felt unable to talk about this with anyone. Everyone kept telling me how wonderful it was that my husband wanted to work for the Church. I guess I was ranting at God. How many times do people do this in the Bible? I am so glad I have kept these diaries as I can see the gradual change in my attitude and it's clear to me now that I wasn't on my own. I just refused to listen.










A little bit of Spring arrived in my classroom this week.

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