Starting a Journal . . . Again

I don't know how many times I have read some sort of book or advice column on writing that says that a writer should keep a journal. I have tried this innumerable times and have always failed. Part of the problem is that I wait to write the journal entry until the very end of the night when I am drooling from fatigue. Another problem is that I inevitably write something personal and then dread the idea of having so much of me down on paper. My forays into journal writing usually end with me tearing the entries out and ripping them up. Despite this, I will open up my graph-paper composition book (don't ask me why; I just like them) and try again.