What if I tell you there is a way you can get inside the mind of your teenage self?
I achieved this last week when for some reason, I picked up the journal that I wrote in the late 80s and early 90s.
I never realized the immense power of journaling until last week when I got inside a portal and time-traveled to Amman, Jordan, in the 90s.
Through my journal, I revisited and reflected on many events that shaped my teenage years in my hometown.
This was as close to time travel as can be as through the pages of my journey, I lived in the mind of my 13-year-old self.
Here are some key takeaways from this mind-blowing experience:
Many pages in my diary ended with "This was the worst day of my life," which made me chuckle as I realized that my problems as a teenager are very minuscule compared to what I face now. This will help me understand the mind of my pre-teenage daughter.
I had more discipline when I was a teenager than now. Back then, I journaled almost every day. What happened to me? Why did I abandon journaling for almost twenty years? Shall I blame my kids for this?
My upbringing was filled with struggles that I never saw as a hardship but rather as a daily existence. Life in the Middle East was not easy, but we didn’t really think of it as hard. We lived, loved, and survived.
I wrote in three languages: Arabic, English, and French.
I had no idea my French was so good that I was able to journal in it!
Can I regain that knowledge of the French language someday?
The stories that I documented will be kept forever. They will never be forgotten. They are kept in a time capsule for eternity
I regret the 20 years plus of my life that I never documented my daily existence. What a waste! How many experiences did I go through that I no longer remember?That I just lost in the ether.
After the recent discovery of my journal, I have made a promise to myself to journal every day to document my life for my kids and for my older self. I will try not to let a story slip away again. I want my stories and my experiences to exist after I perish.
It was eye-opening to read some of the Arabic/Jordanian slang that I used back then. Many of these expressions are no longer used. Did I unintentionally document the progressions of the Jordanian slang?
There was no phone or internet when I wrote my entries; instead, there was a lot of visiting with friends and talking on the landline for hours.
You can take people along with you on this journey and let them time travel with you. I shared parts of this journal with my friends whom I grew up with in Jordan and who are mentioned in the journal. We all laughed hysterically as we recalled some of these shaping events of our teenage years.
So do you journal every day?
If not, what are you waiting for?
Don’t let your stories disappear in the ether.
Omg I think I wrote pretty much the same thing, "This was the worst day of my life" and some variation of "so damn boring!" Alas, I do not have great records. Perhaps I can surface some old LiveJournal entries... :P
Thank you so much for sharing such wonderful gems with us!
What a cool experience! My dad is from Iran so I would love to read some of his old journals on life in the Middle East. I wish I had done more journaling as a kid.