Put it on the internet and share your feelings and thoughts. Others will share their thoughts too.

OP here. Thanks for the perspectives. I've started going through them and pulling out entries for special days: My first day of college, day I met my husband, etc. Then shredding the rest. As I'm reading through them, I honestly don't think there will be a great historic loss--I rarely wrote anything illuminating about current events or university happenings.

Next question. In the same box, I have letters from high school and college friends. I'm still in touch casually with some of the more prolific writers. Do I offer them their letters back? Or send the letters to the shredder too?

"My grandmother kept a diary every single day for 70 years. I have all of her diaries in a box in my house. I can't bear throw them out. She just wrote 2-3 sentences about her day, but her marriage, my father's birth, his marriage, my birth...are all documented there - along with trips to the grocery store, getting her hair done, etc."

I think that's a qualitatively different sort of diary than what OP has kept.

Anonymous wrote:I have old love letters from DH. They are beyond racy. Bordering to x-rated. I am thinking I should burn them too.

I have some of these too. DH wants me to shred them. I like to read them every few years to remember how we were 30y ago!

My grandmother kept a diary every single day for 70 years. I have all of her diaries in a box in my house. I can't bear throw them out. She just wrote 2-3 sentences about her day, but her marriage, my father's birth, his marriage, my birth...are all documented there - along with trips to the grocery store, getting her hair done, etc.

I have old love letters from DH. They are beyond racy. Bordering to x-rated. I am thinking I should burn them too.

I shredded mine. My kids don't need to read about my high school stupidity.