7 Signs Your Memory's Not What It Once Was ...

This is the absolute classic sign of memory failure setting in. You go into a room, or head to the shops, and as soon as you get there cannot for the life of you remember what you went there for. I once went upstairs, forgot why, went downstairs, remembered, went back up, and by the time I got upstairs had forgotten again. I now live in a flat.

This happens with increasing regularity. Someone greets you, you know that you know them, but it completely escapes you where you know them from. Either you risk the embarrassment of admitting that you can’t place them, or you play along in the hope that they will give you a clue. Some people manage to have entire conversations without ever working out who the other person is.

Once upon a time, dear readers, I had every family birthday lodged in my brain and never forgot a single one. Now I can just about recall my own date of birth and that’s it. In recent years I have increasingly been hit by that heart-thumping moment of horror as I realise that it’s someone’s birthday today. Thank god for e-cards.

As your memory starts to fail, you will find yourself increasingly relying on lists. If you don’t make a shopping list, you will buy anything but the things you really need. Without a ‘To Do’ list, you get nothing done. Your calendar or diary become your best friend, as it’s the only way you remember when you have appointments.

This is another inevitability. You keep discovering that you have multiples of everything. The reason is that when you go to the store (having forgotten your list), you can’t remember what you have at home, so you pick up several things that you might need. Or you buy tools, forgetting that you already own the items in question. Or buy yet another set of sheets, forgetting that you’ve already got ten unopened sets.

Most of us probably wonder how large families like the Duggars remember the names of all their children. You would think that if you only have two or three children, their names would be easy to remember. Not so. My mother calls me by my sister’s name, my sister calls me by her daughter’s name. This has been going on for years. You will find yourself calling all your children by the same name.

Oh dear. Pray to the God Of Lost Objects NOW. Start early, because you will need their help. Keys, passports, credit cards, important papers etc will all vanish seemingly without trace. This is simply because having designated a really safe place to keep them, you can’t remember where it is.

Well, I’ve no doubt that some of you have already experienced these disturbing memory disasters. So how bad is your memory – has it ever got you into trouble, and have you suffered memory failure even when really young?

Top Photo Credit: MarshaRedmon