How much detail do you remember about your past? (anxiety, college, parent)

[metalmancpa]

I'm 55 years old.

My memory of the past is choppy and broken. There are so many details i just can't remember, like school for instance. Actually my entire education through college is a blur. I remember travelling yet only some trips have clarity. I remember all of the cars I've driven. I forget many things about my children's schooling like the concerts and parent/teacher conferences.

Some theories of repressed pasts are due to trauma, something I believe never happened to me. Some could theorize that I smoked and drank too much in college (plus a few other things) and I killed enough memory brain cells along the way to affect my long term memory. Who knows, I could have very early stage Dementia or Alzheimer's. Yet maybe the brain just breaks down more on some as others during the aging process, and it's normal.

[texdav]

I can't personally tell you long term effects of alcohol as I never drank much. I do know friends who did say that they couldn't remember driving home next day at times. I do remember lots of things vividly. I can remember and picture in my mind the horses my brother and I skipped entire day of school when walking to school when I was five. I can look at and name many classmates in grade school in photos including the teachers in grade school. We were looking a old school photos and my wife named every teacher she had in the photos of grade school. Might discuss with your family doctor.

[MAniacTHW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMkZWXDulA4

[TabulaRasa]

Loads.

Unsure if it's just because I have a really great memory, overall (which is true), or because I kept journals most of my life and the writing things down reinforced them, or both, or something else. I also have zero substance abuse in my past, which can be a major thing, obviously.

In fact, on the rare occasion that it comes to light that I've completely forgotten something from way back, it comes as kind of a jarring shock, because it's so not typical for me.

[matisse12]

Metalmancpa,

I cannot remember the vast majority of my childhood nor my high school years nor my college years nor the 16 years I was married.

And I could not remember any of the above at any time through the decades as I've grown older.

It does upset me a lot not to remember. I feel it's a great loss not to remember.

And I never drank nor smoked nor took drugs.

[TabulaRasa]

I have a high incidence of Alzheimer's in my family, and starting to lose memories/time would throw me into a tailspin of anxiety.

[Eazine]

I'm fairly young so not too worried about Alzheimer's, but I do experience a lot of memory loss. Unlike you though I did have a rough childhood. I can remember some specific things but mostly there are empty spaces. On a day to day basis I carry a lot of stress and keep myself very busy with tasks and projects that require a lot of focus in the here and now. I rarely if ever have reason to visit my memories (just don't like living in the past) so I don't think I've excercised that "muscle" enough.

[matisse12]

At #5 I meant to mention that I had very little memory of my childhood, teenage, and college years even when I was in my 30's, 40's, and 50's.

So it was never because of Alzheimers or dementia or any type of disease that caused me not to remember.

[Hollywood55]

I have very good recall. Sometimes it is even scary. I can remember people from elementary school and before. Jr high and high school and college, even some of the people in the first jobs i ever worked. Sometimes I wonder if that is even normal to be able to remember the most benign events. But then again, I guess that has a lot to do with the importance of something else that was attached to that memory.

I have had a lot of good, even great memories. They are nice to review now and then. I think there is a danger almost, in too much reminiscing. If you are to busy looking back at old memories, you may miss out on making some new ones. So, I try to keep the past in the past, and visit only now and then. Memories are your own personal diary, something that can be savored and stored, only to yourself and perhaps someone that you made those memories with.

[Vacanegro]

I saw an interview with one of those savants who can remember what the weather was every single day of their lives and they said one of the hardest things to manage when you have a photographic memory is that they can never forget anything even though there is much they would prefer to forget.