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I have aphantasia and probably SDAM. I can barely remember my own life.

Ive been waiting for years for glasses that can scan someones face, tell me who they are, and give me interesting points about them (kids' ages, wifes name, what they do etc).

It is very common for me to be around town and have people come up to me and say my name, and I dont recall ever having met them before.

On the plus side I live in today and dont dwell on the past. It is like a superpower for happiness.



SDAM="severely deficient autobiographical memory".

I've got SDAM, I guess? Although, I object to the characterization. I view other people as being neurotically obsessed with remembering their past and their hurts. If I want to remember something, I take a picture, and write a short (or long!) note about it, and that's enough for me to remember (read: reconstruct) a narrative about that event.

I'm a pretty deep pessimist, as well, so I'm pretty happy with my life, all the time. Drives my wife bonkers.


> On the plus side I live in today and dont dwell on the past. It is like a superpower for happiness.

This is true on many levels.

4:10 @ The Woman Who Could Not Forget - Jill Price

https://youtu.be/SoxsMMV538U

Perfect Memory = Perfect Inability to Forgive | House M.D.

https://youtu.be/dohQfI3u2lc


I have experienced similar. A while ago I had some memory issues due to severe insomnia over weeks. It certainly sucked but the memory loss part wasn't so bas as I basically just felt happy often, not even remembering little annoyances.

It's kind of a double edged sword in my opinion because it's not really affordable to always be in that state.


Joan Rivers had a marvelous remedy for this.

When someone says to you "We've met" and you're drawing a blank, look them in the eye and say "Yes!... but WHERE?"

... and they'll take it from there.




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