Thank you for writing about this. I came upon this piece because I have been debating for months (years?) now what to do with my own journals. I have been writing since I was 10 years old, I am not in my mid-40s, and there are 80+ completed volumes on shelves under my desk. I don't plan on moving any time soon, but I continue to wonder whether keeping them serves me. Then once in a while I get lost reading them, I mostly have a good time. They do spark joy! So I guess they are staying. Apparently nostalgia is a healthy thing.