Do you keep your old, cringy journals?

I am 45 years old, and I have a trunk FULL of journals. I started around 8 years old, and I still journal to this day in order to process my thoughts. Sometimes I’ll go through some old journals to see my growth, and it is a great learning experience.

But other times (like when I recently went through the journals of my adolescence), I cringe at everything I wrote. I know that’s to be somewhat expected, but some of the entries just make me feel uncomfortable and bring up unwanted feelings that I do not wish to visit again. I don’t see a benefit in keeping those, since they don’t bring good feelings, but I am hesitant to throw them away at the same time. It feels like throwing away a photo.

What do you guys do with your journals that you feel negative thoughts towards? Is there any value in keeping them?