{"id":854,"date":"2014-05-08T15:39:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T13:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/?p=854"},"modified":"2020-10-09T12:11:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T10:11:00","slug":"dear-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/blog\/dear-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear diary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>How keeping a one-line diary has changed the way I look at, describe and recall my day\u2026 and my life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On this day in 2013, I was having my first wedding dress fitting. And it\u2019ll be a year ago this weekend that I saw a fantastic production of Sunday in the Park with George, with (and this pleases me no end) my friend George. And around this time last year, I was enjoying reading The Woman in White. Fascinating, I know \u2013 but more interesting is how I know and remember all this. Well, in 2013, I started keeping a one-line-a-day, five-year diary. The concept is this: each date has a page, each page is divided into five sections. You write on the same page on the same date each year \u2013 and you do so for five years.<\/p>\n<p>I bought my journal for a song. Baby blue and leather-bound with gold-edged paper, it\u2019s a little marvel that consistently makes me reflect on the passage of time \u2013 both looking back and thinking forward. I find traditional journaling a chore \u2013 the pressure to write regularly, the tendency just to pen a personal monologue of every worried, angry or depressed thought I\u2019ve had. But this diary is different \u2013 I only have space to write two sentences, which only take a couple of minutes so there\u2019s no pressure. Even more delightful is my discovery that, far from dragging me into a quagmire of self-analysis and rehashing my doubts and fears, it elevates my thoughts and offers me clarity and positivity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remember, remember\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since I began the project, having just a few lines in which to sum up my day has made me think very clearly about what I want to be reminded of five years from now. Do I want to write that I had an argument with my boss, got a manicure and had drinks with a friend? Or perhaps I want to express something that I won\u2019t remember unless I write it down. A stunning winter sunset watched from the office window with a couple of fun colleagues as we worked late? The stranger on the metro who handed me a tissue when I was crying with laughter reading David Sedaris? It makes me really choose what shapes my memories and thus my experience of the day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How was your day?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And by making me consider what I want to remember about this day, the diary also makes me think about what I want to focus on here and now. So, when my husband asks about my day, I can go into details about an endless meeting, a last-minute request for a report, a coaching client who keeps changing her appointment. Or\u2026 I can tell him about a great book I read during my commute, the email I got from a friend I haven\u2019t seen in ages, how I got on in my yoga class. What I choose to tell him about my day colours how I view my day even as I see it that very evening.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking back<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now that I\u2019m in my second year of the diary, I also get to look back at what I was doing last year. I have cited just a few examples and every memory makes me smile. When I\u2019m feeling in a rut and look back at what I was doing last year, I\u2019m reminded of how far I\u2019ve come. I\u2019m also noticing potential patterns: for two years running, late January has not been a pleasant time for me. Maybe in 2015 I\u2019ll be able to factor that in and find a way to take the edge off.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Choosing your memories<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Journaling, of either the traditional sort or the type I\u2019ve embarked upon, may not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but really thinking about how you want to describe your day, week, month or year and what you\u2019d like to remember are great habits to adopt. It\u2019s so easy to get caught up in what went wrong with your day or what you didn\u2019t get done, but those things don\u2019t have to be the sum of your experience. So, the next time you\u2019re having drinks with a friend on a Friday night and she asks, \u201cSo, how was your week?\u201d think about what you want your week to have been about and the experience you want to call to mind before you answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How keeping a one-line diary has changed the way I look at, describe and recall my day\u2026 and my life. On this day in 2013, I was having my first wedding dress fitting. And it\u2019ll be a year ago this weekend that I saw a fantastic production of Sunday in the Park with George, with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[168],"tags":[182,221,222,180,223],"class_list":["post-854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","tag-choices-2","tag-diary-2","tag-journaling-2","tag-positive-thought-2","tag-writing-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dear diary - Joanne Archibald | Coaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dear diary - Joanne Archibald | Coaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How keeping a one-line diary has changed the way I look at, describe and recall my day\u2026 and my life. On this day in 2013, I was having my first wedding dress fitting. And it\u2019ll be a year ago this weekend that I saw a fantastic production of Sunday in the Park with George, with [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joanne Archibald | Coaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-08T13:39:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-09T10:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joanne Archibald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u00c9crit par\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joanne Archibald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joanne Archibald\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98892490c1896bdc00cce2a9d2bbbb8c\"},\"headline\":\"Dear diary\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-08T13:39:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-09T10:11:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Choices\",\"Diary\",\"Journaling\",\"Positive Thought\",\"Writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Coaching\"],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\",\"name\":\"Dear diary - Joanne Archibald | Coaching\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-08T13:39:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-09T10:11:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1281},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Accueil\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dear diary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/\",\"name\":\"Joanne Archibald | Coaching\",\"description\":\"Joanne Archibald | Coaching\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Joanne Archibald | Coaching\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/JAC-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/JAC-logo.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":641,\"caption\":\"Joanne Archibald | Coaching\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98892490c1896bdc00cce2a9d2bbbb8c\",\"name\":\"Joanne Archibald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1fcc92c1b9dd96bf98122c8eb8ea5e420aa1da977e114e51d8a9652b1a2dd5e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1fcc92c1b9dd96bf98122c8eb8ea5e420aa1da977e114e51d8a9652b1a2dd5e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joanne Archibald\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/blog\/author\/admin7926\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dear diary - Joanne Archibald | Coaching","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dear diary - Joanne Archibald | Coaching","og_description":"How keeping a one-line diary has changed the way I look at, describe and recall my day\u2026 and my life. On this day in 2013, I was having my first wedding dress fitting. And it\u2019ll be a year ago this weekend that I saw a fantastic production of Sunday in the Park with George, with [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/","og_site_name":"Joanne Archibald | Coaching","article_published_time":"2014-05-08T13:39:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-09T10:11:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1281,"url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joanne Archibald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u00c9crit par":"Joanne Archibald","Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/"},"author":{"name":"Joanne Archibald","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98892490c1896bdc00cce2a9d2bbbb8c"},"headline":"Dear diary","datePublished":"2014-05-08T13:39:27+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-09T10:11:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/"},"wordCount":747,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg","keywords":["Choices","Diary","Journaling","Positive Thought","Writing"],"articleSection":["Coaching"],"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/","url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/","name":"Dear diary - Joanne Archibald | Coaching","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg","datePublished":"2014-05-08T13:39:27+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-09T10:11:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DEAR-DIARY-2-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1281},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/dear-diary\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Accueil","item":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dear diary"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/","name":"Joanne Archibald | Coaching","description":"Joanne Archibald | Coaching","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#organization","name":"Joanne Archibald | Coaching","url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/JAC-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/JAC-logo.png","width":2560,"height":641,"caption":"Joanne Archibald | Coaching"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/98892490c1896bdc00cce2a9d2bbbb8c","name":"Joanne Archibald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1fcc92c1b9dd96bf98122c8eb8ea5e420aa1da977e114e51d8a9652b1a2dd5e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c1fcc92c1b9dd96bf98122c8eb8ea5e420aa1da977e114e51d8a9652b1a2dd5e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joanne Archibald"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/joannearchibald.com"],"url":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/blog\/author\/admin7926\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions\/870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}