OP seems to completely ignore her age at the time of writing which is just wild to me. Why is she expected to be more mature and moral? As you said, insights come from living and gaining experience. When I was in my teens and 20s, my bipolar was out of control. I was not someone to look up to. I did dangerous things and had a lot of sexual partners in questionable situations. I was also just young and young people can be jerks just like anyone else. If someone published my diary they would see a severely messed up person. I'm not her anymore, though, and I've learned to view myself and others with grace and understanding. Part of that was my experiences and part of it was reading about others.
OP seems to completely ignore her age at the time of writing which is just wild to me. Why is she expected to be more mature and moral? As you said, insights come from living and gaining experience. When I was in my teens and 20s, my bipolar was out of control. I was not someone to look up to. I did dangerous things and had a lot of sexual partners in questionable situations. I was also just young and young people can be jerks just like anyone else. If someone published my diary they would see a severely messed up person. I'm not her anymore, though, and I've learned to view myself and others with grace and understanding. Part of that was my experiences and part of it was reading about others.