With her memoirs on Motherhood just published, Hollie McNish gives us ten reasons why we might want to start jotting down our own thoughts...

Nobody Told Me

Nobody Told Me

I've been writing a diary since I was seven. Not a normal diary really, but a mix between thoughts and feelings and poems. I never wrote every day, maybe once a week, a few times a month or whenever something popped into my head. I never thought much about it and I never intended any of my diaries to be published! Now though, looking back, I definitely think there are some great reasons to keep a diary, whatever form that might take.

Your Story is Unique

I do a lot of poetry workshops with people around the country and the one thing I hear all the time is 'but who cares what I think' or 'my poem is rubbish / boring'. I always disagree. I think the fact that each person is different, that every one of us thinks differently, has different lives and experiences, is so exciting. Everyone has a story to tell and not one person's story is the same as yours - not one person on the entire planet. I think that's so flipping exciting. I think that a diary is a great way to write down and chart that unique story you have - whether just for yourself or perhaps to share with others one day. Perhaps, like me, your daughter might read it and fall over laughing about it all one day!

It can be pretty hilarious to look back on

Ok, maybe not always hilarious, but often hilarious. Even the things that, at the time, you thought were extremely serious. I had moments when I was a teenager when I was on the edge of ripping up poems and stories and diary entries that I had written. I thought they were stupid or terrible or was just feeling annoyed with myself or angry with life. Now, looking back over them, I am so glad I didn't. The fact that I know what made me rage at seven (cats, mainly, it seems), what made me sob at sixteen (boys, small boobs and not getting into nightclubs) is a great thing to read now I can look back over those moments and laugh a little. I've also spent quite a few evenings with friends and wine going over our teenage traumas from those diary entries!

When things aren't so hilarious, writing can be a great shoulder to cry on.

I honestly think that if I hadn't written poems and diaries, I would have had a lot more fights and been a lot more traumatised by life in general. I am not saying here that writing about things can make problems go away, or that some things aren't a lot harder to deal with. It's just that personally, writing down my sadness, worries, anxiety, anger, pain and all those other emotional rollercoasters has definitely played a huge role in helping me to think about and deal with things a lot more than if I'd bottled them up. Talking to people was equally helpful. But sometimes paper can be a very good and less critical friend. You can scream through your pen as loud as you like, it won't judge you for anything.

Sometimes memories should be more than photographs

Nowadays, especially since having a child, my life is full of photographs. I remember the days when we couldn't take so many, when developing pictures was expensive and taking photos was a treat saved for special occasions. That has changed and now we can photograph our everyday action if we want. But no matter how much keeping a diary is perhaps less needed for recording memories nowadays, I still think there are some things that I'd rather save for the page: thoughts, feelings, emotions - you can't so easily photograph those, and those are things I think it's lovely to have memories of. Sometimes it's not all about the look of things in life.

It's better than meditation.

Ok, so as someone who has never ever meditated or done yoga, pilates or any other activity I imagine as calming and spiritual, I don't really have the knowledge to actually back this up. I'm sure it's not the same. What I really mean is that for me, the action of sitting down in the peace and quiet and just writing -concentrating on your own thoughts or your own ideas for even five minutes - is something quite special. Throughout my life, those times of writing have been really lovely, peaceful, chilled out moments. Since having a child and concentrating so much on looking after someone else, it has become even more important to me. Equally, you might try yoga, pilates or meditation!

It prepares me

Sometimes when I'm feeling low or worried, it's really nice to look back and read about other times I have felt like that. And realise that, after a while, things did get better.

It's good practice

I think it's just quite nice to write - to discover your own voice on the page and experiment with the way you write down your thoughts. I find it really cool the way diaries are so different. Some long-winded and romantic, some punctual, factual, some full of illustrations, some in dialogue, some raging. Like our lives, our voices are all very different. The more practice you have, the more you'll find the way of writing that suits you and your voie best.

It makes you happier

I'm not an expert, but I read about this here: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/feb/15/psychology-usa And from personal experience, I whole-heartedly agree!

There are some things you just might not want to share

Although I disagree with a lot of what they say (especially Freud's obsession with penises and female hysteria) I'm pretty interested in the philosophy of Jung and Freud and their attitudes towards repression. I think, as a society, we are still pretty restrained, repressed, especially about our desires, lusts, whatever you want to call them. The popularity of 50 Shades of Grey and erotica in general hints at that. Some people might want to live out their fantasies, some might not. For some, it might not be possible. Writing them down when they pop into your head might be a good way to (sort of) fulfill yourself!

You may be helping future historians!

Ok, so this is a bit of a long shot, but without Anne Frank's diary or Charles Dicken's stories and observations on the working classes, it would have been a hell of a lot harder to know what society, other than for royalty and those whose stories were deemed 'important', was like in the past. Who knows, perhaps your diary will be found in the future and become a very helpful document!