Dear Diary Day

What the day is

Dear Diary Day is observed on September 22. It encourages people to keep a diary or journal, and to write a few lines about the day. The origin of the date is not documented. It is a quiet observance that needs nothing more than a pen and a few minutes.

A diary can be as simple as three lines at night, a list of things that happened or a place to put thoughts that have nowhere else to go.

Origin and background

People have kept diaries for centuries. Samuel Pepys, an English naval official, wrote a famous one between 1660 and 1669, covering the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, and it has become one of the most important primary sources for the period. Anne Frank kept a diary while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam in the early 1940s, and when it was published after the war it became one of the most widely read books in the world. Ordinary diaries also matter to historians, who use them to see everyday life.

There is growing research on the benefits of writing about your feelings. Beginning in the 1980s, the psychologist James Pennebaker found that people who wrote about stressful or painful experiences for a few days in a row tended to have better health and mood afterward than those who wrote about neutral subjects. Later studies have found the effects are modest but real. Journaling also helps people organize their thinking and track their goals.

The most important rule is that a diary is yours. It does not need to be neat, complete or even honest with anyone but you, and nobody else needs to read it.

How to take part

• Write for ten minutes tonight about whatever is on your mind, without stopping to edit.
• Start a short daily habit, such as one good thing that happened and one thing you learned.
• Keep a travel journal on your next trip, with tickets and notes tucked in.
• Write a diary entry for a child to read years from now, if you have a family archive.
• Read an excerpt from a famous diary, such as Pepys or Anne Frank, and notice how ordinary details bring a time to life.