On Keeping a Notebook

On keeping a notebook

Writing things down compulsively is a good way for people to stay connected to who they once were: many other people do it in order to remember events that occurred. At the age of 5, Joan Didion started writing things down from her imagination and from her dreams. A good way to recall events and memories is by keeping a notebook. “Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss” (Didion 1). Writing things down is just a way of generally remembering things, and not every specific detail about it. The events that took place don’t have to be recalled entirely, or have to have every detail correct about it. “Very likely they are right, for not only have I always had trouble distinguishing between what happened and what merely might have happened, but I remain unconvinced that the distinction, for my purposes, matters” (Didion 2). In some cases, the impulses to write things down start at birth, and carry out throughout one’s lifetime, and in others it can just be a temporary activity. People compulsively write to remember big and small things, and a simple way to recall everything that has happened in their lives. “I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest, paid passage back to the world out there” (Didion 3). She writes as a way to “Remember what it was to be me” (Didion 3). We tend to forget many events that occur because life moves fast. A good way to help recall what happened throughout life is by writing in a notebook, diary, journal, or anything else that could be intended to preserve memories. It is also a way of staying mutual with your past and what has happened. “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company