Originally Posted by
outonalimb 
I have a journal that I kept when things were at their worst with my exah. I put it away quite a while ago but every once in a while I'll come across it and I read it and I 'hear' so much sadness and fear and desperation in my posts. This journal always takes me back to such a dark time in my life.
I understand what you're saying.
After reading through this thread last night, I was tempted to see what was in the collection of the documentation I have stored and, so, I sorted through the stack of paperwork.
As far as your point on journaling - I, too, feel reading that which I wrote a few years back takes me to a dark time; in the present, the events, etc., that took place at that time seem almost surreal; maybe that's a good thing.