What I do when I forget

At work, we had a fun social prompt. I was proud of my response.

When you don’t know or can’t remember something, do you pause to try to think of it, search right away, or somewhere in between?

I have a very precise process when I forget something, in five easy steps.

  1. Start speaking anything, hoping that this will trigger my memory. It doesn’t.
  2. Start freaking out that I’m just stammering like a moron to a stranger. I am.
  3. Start freaking out that this is early onset Alzheimers, and that I’m losing what little mind I have left, just like my maternal grandfather and all six of his siblings. I worry that I am saying all this out loud. I am.
  4. I frantically search for the thing, scared people around me are bored and agitated. They are.
  5. I give up, apologize profusely, and wonder if this is just some terrible dream and I’m also naked. It isn’t and I am.

🏴‍☠️