What are your memory jog techniques that help you keep track of stuff, remember names, and whatever else you’re forgetting? I think we could all use a little help from our friends as we move deeper into our 50’s.
This past 48 hours I seemed to be chasing down my stuff…more than normal. I was misplacing a record number of items: golf shoes, wallet, and a few forgotten strokes on a couple of golf holes.
All of these forgettables could be explained away. I can usually come up with plenty of excuses to soften the reality that my brain may be a tad less sharp these days. You know…I was on the move….jockeying from car to ferry, sleeping at a friends house, and had to pack up a quick change of clothes for a dinner after a day of sweating on the golf course. I was moving fast and always with a group. Too many distractions meant I was constantly rechecking to find my phone– did I leave it in the golf cart, on the table, in my purse, in my friend’s pocketbook?
This particular visit was packed with commotion and movement which made it hard to keep it all together. It seemed like I was forgetting stuff everywhere which got me thinking about memory…my memory.
“So, do you have everything?” my friend Deb earnestly and sensitively asked me at every transition; ferry to ferry, car to car, house to car, restaurant to house.
It was her car, so she was using it as her moving locker room…I was in the passenger guest seat…clearly a disadvantage organizationally speaking.
“Of course, I’ve got it all…no problem.” Frankly, I had no clue.
It’s not that I do too much, but it’s true I do a lot. It’s not that I’m not in the moment – it’s that I’m too much in the moment.
I can no longer multi task.
At my ripe age – I love to immerse in projects, people and games…I find great relief in having a narrow focus. The problem lately is I actually am no longer good at doing 2 or 3 things at once.
My mother-in-law who once was a great scholar in the art field authoring numerous books and curating block buster art shows — now has serious memory issues. On the spectrum of forgetting, she is on one extreme. I love spending time with her and looking through her art books with her and observing if there is a glimmer of remembering. The mind is so fascinating – our greatest asset catapulting us to places I never thought possible, and inversely when it fails us, it can bring us to despair.
Most of my friends in their late 50’s and early 60’s are starting to apologize for their slow recall of names, book titles, and their keys. We are well aware that in the extreme the grim reaper of our memories is hovering and it will come.
After declaring a bogey on the 16th hole, my sweet friend patiently helped me recount my golf strokes reminding me I forgot to add in one of the strokes. I felt my body tense as I tried to visualize which one I had forgotten. She was right – Double boogey was the real number – but it was annoying to not have remembered that missed stroke.
It’s so easy to be impatient about forgetting my wallet, miscounting my strokes on a hole or even forgetting where I parked my car on my return almost leaving it in a different city.
I know, there’s strategies for keeping track of stuff so I googled around a bit and asked a few peeps for ideas and here were some suggestions.
1. Check your family genetics and perhaps you will discover memory issues in your past.
23 and Me: The DNA test that can give you insights into what came before and what comes after.
2. Puzzles: The Total Brain Workout…450 Puzzles To SharpenYour Mind
3. The New York Times Sunday Cross Puzzle. 500 Puzzles that are super-sized….no squinting!
4. Tumeric seems to be the new wonder supplement. Not only is is supposed to help with memory, it is also good for joint inflammation. New Chapter is a great company so perhaps this could be a great resource. Love to know if anyone of our readers has tried it.
5. Brain Boost Natural Supplements. Supplements make me a bit nervous as I’m not a vitamin or pill taker but… let us know if you take any supplements. This one got 4 out of 5 stars.