Like many people my age my short term memory is getting very unreliable. I read in bed at night & have to go back a few pages every night to remind myself of what I previously read. If I watch a weekly TV series I have forgotten what happened in the previous week by the time it comes around again. I think that is all perfectly normal, however frustrating. I don't particularly worry about it.
I have never been able to remember much about my childhood. I suspect I have actually blocked much of it out because it wasn't easy. Even hypnotism didn't help me remember. By the time I left college at 21 I was really glad that I didn't have to return & live at home. I married & started a professional job in a different part of the country to my parents.
Friends remember things about our friendship that I don't. My daughter remembers things about our lives that I don't. I tell myself it's because I tend not to look back. I prefer to live for today & look forward.
Nowadays I need prompts to remember what is happening in my life. But I am an organised person & generally the prompts work. The most frustrating thing is not being able to recall words, even names of people I know well. I have a visual memory so I can see an image of the person / thing but can't remember the name. In common with many people I can set off to do something & in seconds the task has drifted out of my mind, so I'm walking somewhere to do something but don't know what.
There are things in everyone's life it is important to remember & things best forgotten. Dwelling on past arguments & mistakes really gets you nowhere. It has happened & cannot be changed. The most important thing is to not repeat the mistakes. To learn from them. On the other hand as you age you realise that good memories are little nuggets of gold to be treasured.
Now that I am less mobile & not able to travel to far flung places as I once did, I realise that my best memories are of wonderful journeys I had with my husband. We tended to focus on challenging walks in beautiful & varied landscapes. There is nothing quite like ascending to great heights & looking down from mountains. It gives you perspective. There is also nothing quite like meeting people who have a completely different culture & realising that we have more in common than the things that divide us. There is nothing like visiting sites of ancient civilisations & realising that we do not have a monopoly on creating & building.
Travel does broaden your horizons & your mind. So these are the memories that I hope I retain.
We now live in a time where we should all consider whether travel is justified because of the climate emergency. At the very least we should consider choosing land travel & avoid flying. Sadly many of the countries I travelled to are now unsafe because of civil unrest, criminal regimes & war.
Times have changed & we have to change with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment