I can't say if I would be able to sit down and burn something I put work into. Having spent a lot of time being depressed and ripping up or deleting work that I've done with art or writing, I just feel a deep sense of hurt whenever I do it. There's something about destroying a piece of history - even if it's only personal history - that just hurts; at worst I'm breaking something that doesn't deserve to be broken and is better than it seems to me at the time, and at best I'm just being petty. Honestly, I think it would be best to let your journals and personal thoughts be most of the time. However, that chances depending on the context and point of the thoughts.
A good example of when I'd be okay with burning parts of whole diaries is if it was a darker time in my life; I've done such a thing, like cutting my hair after letting it get way too long during depressive episodes, tearing up papers with all sorts of negative connotations written on them, or even burning them if I'm not in danger of burning something else on accident. It's a catharsis I suppose, being able to sit down and metaphorically erase the past in a way; which for some people, I assume, it would be very nice. A sort of nail in the coffin, to say that "this part of my life is over". That, I can get behind, but otherwise I think destroying the past doesn't really solve anything besides momentary catharsis. If anything, the past should be preserved in order to be learned from. After all, if you don't learn from history...
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I like your tone that you use in this blog as it shows how passionate you are about preserving those memories that you have captured in your life. I too would agree that trying to get rid of memories or as you put it burning those memories would be hard. Similar to you, I have invested a lot into my own life as I have been the main person that has been looking out for me. I have parents that love me dearly, but I have been the one person that has had to make my own decisions with the advice of my parents but making those decisions mine. So I too understand how important it is too cherish those moments. To your point, I don’t want to burn something of value, like personal documents or writings that my own children could read.
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