Any sort of system I've tried to come up with for reading and writing only ensured that I didn't do either.
I rarely read my stuff. And much of it I don't really want to read. — Once I have the power of hindsight, reminding myself of squandered opportunities and silly apprehensions I once had (in great cathartic unending detail, no less) can be a hard pill to swallow.
But those couple days each year I spend a moment flipping back to a random page in my life — however so infrequently — are rich with perspective. There seems to be a lot of wisdom in that delta between then and now. Like reliving how terrified I was of some impending event in my past and now, years later, really being able to internalize the reality of "That wasn't so bad, was it? You could've just relaxed that whole time. Next time, just relax."
I don't think it's essential to revisit your writings regularly. I reckon most of the value in writing is the self-reflection necessary to serialize your mind to paper in the first place. It forces you to confront yourself when it's far easier to perpetually avoid yourself up until the very end. I think when you're analyzing yourself from the outside, you have no choice but to grow in some way.
As long as you're writing at all, I think you're doing fine.
I rarely read my stuff. And much of it I don't really want to read. — Once I have the power of hindsight, reminding myself of squandered opportunities and silly apprehensions I once had (in great cathartic unending detail, no less) can be a hard pill to swallow.
But those couple days each year I spend a moment flipping back to a random page in my life — however so infrequently — are rich with perspective. There seems to be a lot of wisdom in that delta between then and now. Like reliving how terrified I was of some impending event in my past and now, years later, really being able to internalize the reality of "That wasn't so bad, was it? You could've just relaxed that whole time. Next time, just relax."
I don't think it's essential to revisit your writings regularly. I reckon most of the value in writing is the self-reflection necessary to serialize your mind to paper in the first place. It forces you to confront yourself when it's far easier to perpetually avoid yourself up until the very end. I think when you're analyzing yourself from the outside, you have no choice but to grow in some way.
As long as you're writing at all, I think you're doing fine.