If you found a bunch of old journals with entries and poetry of your saddest and angriest times, would you burn them or keep them?

I just read my poetry from high school. Freaked me out.

I have journals dated back to 1992. Reviewed then a few times.

Burn

I'm far too sentimental towards things

I have a hard time throwing away a stick in my drawer that I picked up 15+ years ago.

As I know myself, I'd keep them but wouldn't read them.

I have printscreens from EP when I was processing things and was going a bit crazy but I haven't gone back to them so far. Still, I don't want to rob myself off that option, maybe there will be time when I will need to revisit them.

I kept a journal from age 9 to 30. When I was 32, I opened them all and started to flip through, and all it did was bring back sooooo many horrible memories and feelings. I wanted to kill that person.

I burned the journals immediately and do not regret it. I burned my yearbooks for the same reason. When I leave this life, I want there to be absolutely no trace of my ever having existed.

I should probably burn them but instead I post them on SW.

Why would you burn them?

I would get rid of them for 2 reasons:
1. I wouldn't want to read them and go back to that state.
2. I don't want anyone else reading my personal thoughts.

They were most burnt already, thus i might keep it

If there was a chance my child was gonna see it like you mentioned id burn them. Depending on the content of it of course. But you can take pictures of it

I have kept mine....some quite good, some not so good but they reflect my mindset at that time.
Mine isn't a journal per se, but a collection of my old writings.

Oh destroy them !

Unless you can edit the negative and retain the positive.

I kept diaries and journals for years.
Mainly to log conversations with people who had influence in what was going on in my life that i had no control over.

But they were depressing to reread.