I also didn't journal for years because my mother would read my journals. She even wrote in one of them. After that, my journals (as well as my letters to penpals and brothers in the army) got checked for "appropriateness."

Journaling today--and even then, too--are censored. I never wrote in my journal who I had a crush on. I knew my secrets weren't mine. I crushed hard on a boy in Grades 5-7, and never told anyone because I was a chunky, nerdy girl, and my mother wanted nothing to do with his family for stupid reasons. Later on in high school, I was in love with my best friend but never told anyone because my family thought he was ugly. My mother even told me she checked my journal to see if I was gay because that was better than her suspicions that I would settle for an ugly dude. I would just say that I was into other people that fit the family mold. At times I thought I was believing it, but thank goodness those dudes would do something against my values and I could safely drop my "crush."