Completing word search puzzles

May 16, 2020 (Chapter 6 Living with a Memory Impairment in my book)

Recently while I was doing a word search puzzle. I noticed that I was crossing words out that were in parenthesis. I just shook my head but continued to do what I felt that I needed to do. I did this on several pages. Now the question that I was asking myself was: Why am I doing this? I guess in order to answer this question, you have to have an understanding of what it is like to live with a memory impairment. Since I was diagnosed in 2005, I have had at least fifteen years of dealing with the symptoms associated with MCI.

For twenty-one years I worked as a para educator in an elementary school. During the last five years that I was working there, were very difficult. I referred to the staff workshop days as “text overload.” When I am doing the word search puzzles, the words that are in parenthesis are not needed for me to solve the puzzle. Crossing out these words that I don't need to look for in the puzzle helps me to complete it. I think that by crossing these words out, it keeps my focus on what words I need to look at. I think that if I didn't cross these out, I might be looking for these words in the puzzle. There is a good chance that I would forget that they are not needed. I am crossing them out before I begin looking for any of the words. This will probably lesson my frustration! I am also crossing out any words that are in lower case because they are not words that are found in the puzzles.

I know that I have been doing word searches for many, many years but I don't remember if I was crossing out words in the past. If it helps me to be successful in completing the puzzle then that is good!