This exercise is not meant to inspire morose or morbid thoughts (you likely still have many happy and healthy years ahead of you!) but to think about what you want to happen to your most personal writing.
1. Start by skimming your current personal journal or journals from past years. Pay attention to what you tend to write about during different periods of your life.
2. After 15 minutes, ask yourself if you would be comfortable with anyone – family members, friends, strangers – reading these entries after you die. In your journal, describe your gut reaction and why you feel this way.
• Does the idea make you embarrassed or worried, or do you feel comfortable with it?
• If you were to allow someone to read your journals, who would it be? Why this person?
• If you wouldn’t be comfortable with anyone reading your journals, why do you feel this way? Are you concerned that it would change the way your loved ones think about you? Are you worried that they would feel hurt by the things you wrote about them?
3. Come up with a plan for what you want to happen to your journal writing posthumously. Do you want your spouse or children to take custody of your journals, with permission to read them? Do you want your best friend to destroy them without even opening them? Do you want your brother to publish certain journals as inspiration for other writers?
Write down exactly what you would like to happen to your work after you are gone. Make it a goal to talk to the people involved in your plan or add it to your legal will.
Have you ever thought about where your journals should go after you die? Do you have a plan in place? I'd love to hear your thoughts about this very important issue! I'm in the process of updating my will and including plans for my personal journals. They're here for anyone to read; after all my life is an open book! :)
If you want to learn how journaling can help you tackle life's challenges, please download the free eBook, The Journaling Guide to Manage The Stress and Strains of Life.