[Photo incl.] Open Diary improved my eyesight.

When I was 14 I had depression. Even as I slept I couldn’t see clearly – for years I was blind in my dreams. I used Open Diary to clear my thoughts and improve my vision. This website calmed me on some of my roughest, loneliest days; I hope everybody that needs that solace finds it elsewhere.

I remember I was once so desperate to write a diary entry that when I realised the site was down I cried out of desperation. After that I often wrote on paper and recorded the entries online afterwards for safekeeping.

In saying good bye to all of you, I feel like I’m saying Bye to a part of me, but most of my OD friends are long gone (my bookmarks are 99% from 2011 and earlier). The value of this place doesn’t lie in community – you will find that elsewhere. The value is in You. A diary is primarily a tool of self-reflection.

Wherever I am, there I am.

Every year I’m happier. Every year I realise that although I may not have achieved my current goals, I’ve achieved previous goals, moved on and forgotten them as I looked forward to the next ones. Every year, this diary helps me recognise my achievements, how I’ve changed and what parts of me will always stay the same.

I’m going to use the download function and take my personal records when I go.

If you have anything to say… perhaps you have read my diary on and off for many years, or perhaps you just want to say Hi or Bye, now is the time to do so.

For the last 9 years I called myself Lizzy. My name is Lucy. Open Diary helped me see clearly.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? …Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.  … It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

– Maryanne Williamson