I only remember how it smelled
For years and years people always told me to picture something in my head. To visualize it. I always thought it was a bit odd but I pretended I understood what they meant. It wasn’t until I came upon an article earlier this year about Aphantasia that I learned that people can ACTUALLY visualize things in their head. At first I thought, “wait, not there’s not a chance in hell. You’re kidding, right?” Then, I took the time to think back on my life and what I’m good at as well as the things I’m not good at. I can’t play any first person shooter games or Minecraft for example, because I couldn’t tell you which way to go or navigate anywhere because there are no pictures in my head. I don’t remember visual spaces or anything visual, at all.
So, how do I remember things? Well, I am an abuse survivor and as a result of my trauma I tend to remember the things that are most comforting to me. When you remember a smell, can you actually smell it? I can. Unfortunately, this provides me with no actual benefits because remembering how something smells doesn’t allow me to give that information to another person although it did prove very handy when I was competing in the food science portion of Future Farmers of America because I have a perfect scent memory. I can also likely tell you what strain of cannabis you’re smoking if you ever mix up your strains and I’ve smelled that strain before. I could probably tell you what brand of cigarettes someone is smoking from a block away as well as if your baby has a dirty diaper or not. Outside of that, there aren’t many benefits to having a perfect scent memory.
I also have a tendency to remember very well what my physical state was at the time of an incident. For example, my body temperature, my emotional state and anything that was physically touching me at the time. Unfortunately I can almost never tell you what was said unless I wrote it down and I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I visually saw ever but it does mean that I cherish moments and I am highly likely to be carrying a camera with me to remember events. I’m not certain yet if this makes me a better or worse photographer.
Lately I’ve been on a kick of asking my friends how they remember things. As someone whose brain doesn’t function normally I’ve been asking my friends how they form memories. Are they remembering things visually? Can they actually smell what the room smelled like? Can they remember how they felt at the time? Can they remember how something physically felt when it touched them? Can they almost hear what it sounded like? Is just the background noise they remember or the actual conversation? I have a lot of questions for my friends because I feel like if I know how they remember things then I can help curate a better experience for them. For example, when I travel, if I bring along a candle from home, I can decrease my anxiety by at least half if not more. This makes my experience when traveling exponentially better. I feel safe, warm and reminded of home. I don’t get nearly as homesick as a result.
If you’re armed with the information that your friend has a perfect auditory memory maybe you’ll be more likely to rely on them to recount what someone said. If you know that your friend has a great visual memory it might be a good idea to rely on them as the navigator when you’re all in the car going somewhere. If we all knew how people best remembered information, wouldn’t that make us all a lot stronger when we were working together? What if your TEAM at work knew how each other team member remembered information? Would they be able to better anticipate each others strengths and weaknesses?
If you like what I wrote you can help me replace my breaks in my car here: www.ko-fi.com/forbebo.