Long before I started to blog I wrote weekly and sometimes daily, in a regular hard bound notebook and called it “a diary”. I have kept a diary for my entire life, and by this time in my life I know it is something I will not ever loose or stop doing. It is so ingrained in my to write in a diary that I can’t stop. It is not a daily habit, like eating breakfast or brushing my teeth (things I can’t not do), but it’s as much as part of my life as this blog, although a bit more secret…

On keeping a diary for yourself : Should you share your journal/diary or keep it private - blog post by iHanna #journaling

When it comes to Keeping a Diary and a blog at the same time, this is a question you must ask yourself: Should you Keep it Private or Share it with the online community?

Keeping a Diary and Sharing it

I love looking at filled journal pages, don’t you? Written pages with quirky or beautiful handwriting are magical to me. You know the kind, that some people share on their blog or instagram? They’re so private yet shared freely by the authors. I don’t know how they do it. Maybe they write differently than I do, or started to journal to share notebooks online? Some handwriting is hard to decipher, but others are easy to read, and that would scare me. Journaling that anyone could read? No thank you (for me).

I don’t think I’ll ever want to share everything from the particular notebook series that I call my diaries. They are way too private, and if they wouldn’t be so very private then they wouldn’t be so meaningful to me!

Plus, I share so many other things here, like my messy desk, the inside of my Art Journal and what I’m feeling when it comes to creating art, that maybe I need to keep the written journaling to my self? I wouldn’t feel free to write what ever was inside my brain if I knew someone (unknown to me), could read it all. I would probably feel violated and sad about it, if I went ahead and shared it.

But if you think it’s not that private, then I encourage you to share your journal freely. It’s your choice of course, and I even envy those who can. I write so much I could share something daily for the rest of my life if I wanted to…

Moleskine Plain Notebook (shiny and new)

I have shared a lot of what’s inside my many different diaries here through the years already! This is when it comes to spreads that didn’t have journaling on them. Then I don’t mind you getting to be inspired by the pages.

The “other things” I add into my private diary are things that I cut and paste, found quotes and my own doodles, sometimes I fill a page just to test a new ink.

To me these pages are not as private and does not reveal my inner most feelings, so I’m okay sharing them and will continue to when I can. But last week I found a flip through of my diary filmed two years ago that I never edited, and while contemplating sharing it I had to give this a little more thought. Could I share the written pages?

One filled notebook and one new notebook

Keeping a Diary Private

I came to the conclusion that no, I don’t want to share most of the written pages. It is too personal, and I like to keep it away from the internet. Keeping a diary Private is part of the lovely feeling that diary keeping is for me. It is made to be a brain dump of stupid thoughts, whining, complaining, thinking on paper and letting things go. My diary is a notebook of feelings, thoughts and ideas, of dreams. Until I decide to write them here I’m keeping them all private.

Full journal vs. New Journal

That said, I decided to share the video I filmed back in January 2016 anyway. It shows me opening up a brand new Moleskine Notebook. Mine is pink and “plain” which means it is without lines, the kind I like the most. Then I flip through a filled diary, ready to be archived. The full one is a Leuchtturm, also in pink, that my friend Jana gave me (special edition with pink cover and green elastic ribbon as closure). I have cut out or blurred most of the pages with text, so now it feels good to be sharing this video with you guys.

I hope you like it!

Flip through of finished diary


Flip-through video of a FULL Leuchtturm1917 & NEW Moleskine Notebook on Studio iHanna on YouTube. Please click the video to make sure you’re subscribed there, it helps motivate me and for more people to find my videos. Thank you.

The Notebooks

  • New Moleskine Plain NotebookMoleskine Classic Notebook, Large, Plain with a Hard Cover 5 x 8.25 inches
  • Leuchtturm1917Leuchtturm1917 Medium Hardcover Notebook, 5.75 X 8.25 inches, 249 Blank Pages, New Pink

So, what should you do? I can not tell you if you should keep yours private or share it, or do like me and do both. But one thing I’m sure of: keeping a diary should feel like it’s a secret confession, something you’re whispering to a dear friend. If it just feels blah or boring, writing about the weather and what you ate today, then it’s not really a diary in the true sense. The benefits come when you poor your heart out. So I hope that’s what you’re doing, then decided if you can share your whole heart, or only parts of it, with the entire world.

Let me know below if you’re a diary writer too?

Diary Keepin’ Inspiration