How Well Do You Remember Your Early Life?
Memory is a strange and wonderful thing.
However, it's not always reliable!
There are parts of my childhood and youth that stand out with extreme crystal clarity in my mind, but there are also certain blank spots where I absolutely cannot remember anything. And, when I say "I can't remember anything," I mean my memory is not even triggered when I look at photos from that particular event or time in my life.
Of course, I'm open to the possibility that I'm simply getting old and my mind is looking more and more like a piece of Swiss cheese! However, convenient as that excuse might be, I don't think that's always the case.
Because I have always been interested in psychology and the human mind, and have been a student of the human condition for about as long as I can remember, I'm always curious about why we remember certain things and why we don't remember others even though - on paper, at least - they seem very similar.
For example, I can remember going to boarding school for three years as being an absolutely horrendous experience. This took place during my final years of high school. But even though I remember it being a horrendous experience, and that I felt anxious and wildly uncomfortable most of the time I was there, I can't even remember specifically any events that made it horrible.
Sounds like a weird dichotomy, doesn't it?
Even though I spent many years in a couple of relationships, I don't particularly remember either of my ex's that well. Maybe that's exactly as it's supposed to be, but I find it interesting that I remember so little and can barely picture their faces in my mind anymore, while many people around me seem to still remember minute details about their exes that reach - at least in my mind - almost the absurd. Why such differences?
Sometimes it makes me wonder if the degree to which we remember something is directly connected to the degree of importance we assign to it.
The fact that I don't really remember anything specific from my boarding school years seems to walk hand in hand with the fact that for a long time what I typically have told people is that I'd really rather just forget that time. And I say that, compared to other people I've met who like to rehash every tiny detail of their difficult times in life.
Could it be that the structure of our memories is directly contingent on our willingness to let go of things in the past? For example, I have been very willing to let go of my difficult boarding school years, just like I've been very willing and ready to let go of my ex's when I was done with those relationships.
Making cookies with my auntie, circa 1965
Conversely,I remember quite clearly the happy times I spent at my auntie's house when my parents were gone away to a foreign country. But do I remember those things not necessarily because they were happy times, but because they were times that I often think back of fondly and they feel like they're worth remembering?
What am I really getting at here?
I guess I'm hinting at the possibility that maybe memory is less of just "a thing" that we have and that does something then a choice we make. Not saying that's entirely true of all things, but in broad strokes maybe there is a truth there.
And maybe it is also related to what is important to us, and what is not so important to us.
Meanwhile, I am smiling wryly to myself at the idea that I am writing all these things down in thousands of blog posts on Hive because my memory is gradually leaving me... so I'll have to come back and read about it!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week ahead!
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Created at 2024-03-04 02:15 PST
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Memory of impact incidents more than those of the heart I dare say.
I cannot remember peoples faces yet numbers stick remembering phone number, back to the very first phone, that was until these cell phones arrived.
Planting and growing something taught at a young age another one never forgets, perhaps the saying our memory is a sponge to age 7 is what attributes toward very early childhood memories.
Getting through teenage years when we did crazy enterprising maneuvers, we remember what but never why.
Nice topic to ponder over, certain memories feel like yesterday yet many simply fade as one no longer considers them.
Really?
Saying that you didn’t really remember your exes that much is weird
Is it in their attitude and all other things?
Right?
Older people often talk about loss of memories and I think that now there are many more things that we have to remember and that we practically do not pay attention to. I also believe that repetition does its own thing, telling many times some events and even writing about them in this platform reinforces them in our mind and I think it is difficult to forget them.
PS: I also erased the exes from my mind.
Translated with Deepl
At our age I think it is normal to forget things and events that have happened a long time ago, some people forget more than others. But I think you may be exaggerating, because I read your posts and I see coherence and the truth is they are very good, they make me reflect. Take action and you will see that everything will be fine. Good week.🤗
I recently read that memories are laid down over a foundation of emotions. You remember pleasant times often better than unpleasant. Not remembering bad times is often a survival thing, your mind suppresses those memories so you can move on.