那将是完全不同的冲动，这是现实的本能，我有时嫉妒但不具备。我从来没有能够成功保留日记。我的日常生活方法从严重的疏忽到缺席，而且在我尽职尽责地录制一天的事件时，无聊使我克服了我，以至于结果充其量是神秘的。购物，打字，与E的晚餐，沮丧的业务是什么？购物什么？打字什么作品？谁是E？这是沮丧的，还是我感到沮丧？谁在乎？
(That would be a different impulse entirely, an instinct for reality which I sometimes envy but do not possess. At no point have I ever been able successfully to keep a diary; my approach to daily life ranges from the grossly negligent to the merely absent, and on those few occasions when I have tried dutifully to record a day's events, boredom has so overcome me that the results are mysterious at best. What is this business about shopping, typing piece, dinner with E, depressed? Shopping for what? Typing what piece? Who is E? Was this E depressed, or was I depressed? Who cares?)
琼·迪翁（Joan Didion）从“向伯利恒（Bethlehem）走向伯利恒（Bethlehem）”的摘录中，反思了她无法维持日记，揭示了她为准确记录日常生活的斗争。她将自己的方法描述为不一致，经常在疏忽和缺席之间转向，这表明与她生存的平凡方面有脱节。 Didion对那些可以更有效地捕捉现实的人表示嫉妒。
当她试图叙述自己的日常活动时，她发现自己被无聊淹没，质疑购物和写作等平凡任务的重要性。她的条目让人感到隐秘，充满了对人和情感的模糊提及，提出了有关她的经历和背后含义的问题。迪迪翁（Didion）的观点揭示了她与现实和记忆的关系中的复杂性，强调了表达日常生活的挑战。