Narration provided by Wondervox

By Mark McNease

People sometimes ask in the workshops I conduct: What’s the difference between a journal and a diary? Autobiographical writing (or journaling) focuses on themes that often require revisiting our lives, and writing about specific events, people, experiences and memories. I refer to it as a process of re-discovery. When we journal, it’s not uncommon to find ourselves remembering things we’d forgotten, or not thought about in a long time. It’s  not so much that we’re discovering things about ourselves and our lives, as that we are coming upon them again. You may realize that one of the effects these memories have is to reawaken us to who we already are: those parts of our character and personality that began long ago and remain foundational to our identities.

A diary, in contrast, may be described as a daily, or near-daily, recording of events, people, and experiences. It can be kept in a spiral notebook, or typed into a document, or written down in a formal diary designed for that purpose.

Here are some broader thoughts about the differences between the two:

Journal versus Diary 

A journal and a diary are both personal writing tools that people use to record their thoughts, experiences, and reflections. However, they differ in purpose, style and content.