The five year diary

It was my 40th birthday a few months ago and one of my presents was a five year diary. Not the usual run of the mill diary but one that gives you a few lines to answer a specific question each day. The thinking behind it is that over the five years you can compare your answers.

My one and only new years resolution ( other than to lose weight which has been every years for some time now)  was to post the question on my face book page every night and get everyone to answer the question along with me. Its been quite funny, poignant and those who have taken part have really got into the swing of it.

However a set of generic questions to answer every day has its problems. How do you answer the question " how did you get to work today?" And " when was the last time you were sick?" When you are medically retired and always sick? Do you answer with humour to make light of the situation or do you answer truthfully knowing on both counts things are in the next five years unlikely to change? Sometimes I've chosen humour other times honesty. I wish I had answered the work question by saying I had slid down the bannister! I wish I had been able to convey just how much I had laughed at the question about being sick! Because I really did laugh. What else was there to do?

Don't get me wrong I don't hate the diary quite the opposite I love the diary, some of the answers supplied by my friends have been hilarious! Some have lead onto debates about various issues. People have also messaged me or posted on my face book page demanding to know where the days question is if I haven't posted it by the usual time!

People have messaged me and said some days on the diary question its obvious that writing the answers has been quite cathartic for the authors.

For a short period of time my facebook page also held a debate. It was incredibly hard finding debate subjects that were accessible to all and that wouldn't descend into name calling as I had seen happen before. I couldn't sustain this without help so I had to knock it on the head, it meant I had to be glued to facebook all day and this may surprise some people but I do have other things to do.

So far I have only forgotten once to post and considering the state of my memory and the fact its March tomorrow I've done bloody well.

I've had imitators, people who have posted diary questions on their own facebook pages and who have failed to get past a few days. I've had a sly little chuckle at those! Because I can be evil!

 I'm proud of my staying power, I'm terrible at starting things full of gusto and then it fading away once the first flush of excitement has gone. After all my recorder is sat in the kitchen unplayed for weeks - however you do need a bit of lung capacity to play it and unfortunately this nose dive has literally knocked the wind out of my sails.

This little project of mine the diary question has been enormous fun and I'm grateful to Ellie for getting it for me. Its unique and has given me something small to look forward to everyday. So thank you xx