It’s possible that you may lose some continuity; if you are the type of person who is use to tracking yourself continuously over a period of months or years- you can end up with huge unaccounted for gaps in your story that have been rationed out like current retail limits on goods. It’s also possible that you stop being stuck; since we can end up identifying too closely with whatever we're going through that it breaks us but either way; what happens to us may be completely up for grabs.

Of course we have the task of picking and choosing, which aspects of ourselves should be shared publicly and which aspects of ourselves should remain undocumented. More than likely we want to offer our readers something exclusive but not so much that we surrender all of our intimate selves. It has been said that self intimacy is the most radical form of expression; we eventually get into character and perform a past version of ourselves.

We are either reliving or archiving and I'm not sure, if we can do both at the same time. We are sentimental creatures who want to be reminded of things that have shaped us; even if they're unpleasant but we mostly want to be transported to a simpler time, to a familiar time or to a time that makes us feel cozy like when we have that cup of hot cocoa and our favorite pair of slipper socks. Otherwise, we mourn the loss of not what has troubled us but a journey that we can no longer refer back to- one that tells us who we were or who we will become.

It may be possible to archive ourselves without becoming too attached to the feelings and emotions that take us along for the ride because many are short lived; if we allow them to run their course. It also may be possible to archive without reliving the experience but this is a trap because it’s challenging to convince ourselves that the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive; repeatedly revisiting a version of yourself may give that version more authority over who you are now.

What occurred to me is that it sometimes takes more time, effort and energy to write about it, than it does to just deal, enjoy or experience it but there has to be a way of getting out of a bind that doesn’t shake our foundation. Writing about it can definitely help to move you forward or hold you back; depending on the person. It becomes apparent that there are pros and cons either way and one of them will win out, if we go through this process enough times.

These are things I'll note the next time there's a new blog entry under way. Is this something I can write without grossly reshaping how I think about myself?, are there some empty periods that bug me like staring at a blank journal page? or is this topic something I can tackle in a way that I won't regret later? What I’ve learned is that documenting your life can help you remember it but it’s also true that you can become so preoccupied with documenting that you actually stop living.