Why is this important to me?

March 27, 2021

When I am listening to music, I am not just enjoying it but I am also testing my memory. I usually listen to 70’s music because that is what I enjoy listening to. That is the music that I grew up with. As I’m listening to each song, I am trying to remember the name of the artist, title of the song and sometimes the year that the song was released.

Sometimes there are songs that are more current. I think that these are the songs that I have the most trouble with trying to remember the details. For some reason, there was one artist that I could never remember his name. I would just tell myself, “the redhead”. I could see his face and know that he had red hair, but his name was always a problem for me. Recently when I was listening to a song by him, I couldn’t come up with his name again. Then I realized that “redhead” actually rhymed with his first name. I kept telling myself, “redhead Ed”. Using this trick made it possible for me to remember his first and last name. I’m so happy that for now, I figured out a way to come up with his name.

Someone might ask me, “why is this important to you?” My answer would be that I want to continue keeping my brain active and testing my memory in hopes that my memory impairment diagnosis will remain mild cognitive impairment and not progress to dementia. It is important for me to try to remember as much as I can on any given day.

Being able to remember these things reminds me of what I can still remember rather than be reminded of what I forget in any given day.