I’ll jump in at the deep end.
It’s my first message. I’ll be gentle.
My partner tells me I don’t listen. Then she tells me I forget. Then comes the “you don’t get out much. You don’t have a social life. You don’t talk to my relatives. You’re becoming senile before your time. You should read more. Do something to keep your brain active. Here. Try this Wordle. What has 5 letters, the last 2 are e and d and there’s an r somewhere?
At that moment my brain shuts down, rendering me speechless, comatose and difficulty finding the will to live.
Who’s idea was it to do puzzles. A puzzle maker most likely.
Puzzles might make you a good puzzle solver but they don’t help when you can’t find the chili sauce in aisle 5 because it’s no longer a condiment but an Asian food. Is that racist?
I’m in disagreement with most of the known world and it’s occupants about most things. Brain exercise is one of them. Seems to me that doing anything uses the brain. If I cut my carotid artery while shaving or had a stroke or my wife decided to strangle me for no good reason other than my very existence, then my poor old brain would with in minutes due to a lack of all things nutritious. Other than that, it happily continues to use about 20% of what I take in and has done so for all 78 years of my existence. Oh, I forgot a small exception. When I fell in love I believe my circulatory system when into overdrive and drained my brain of any sense and sensibility.
A bit like punching a hole in a beer keg.
I never really thought much about my brain function. It seemed to have served me wel all these years: until others showed concern. How would they know what I’m thinking?
I don’t listen because I’m not interested. I forget because it’s deemed unimportant. Either that or it might be important enough for someone to remind me later, and later again, and so on until I do it because of sheer exasperation.
When someone tells me something I often don’t switch in until the first phrase ahs finished, then switch off because I know what’s coming or want o interrupt the speaker because they’re talking rubbish.
I’ve been to a few social,gatherings to see what I’m supposed to be missing. It’s either old people complaining about their doctor, partner, hip replacement and new set of dentures or it’s patronising young people who say something nice like: “you don’t look that old” then walk away to get first helping of the buffet.
The truth is I enjoy my own company, I read stuff no one I know understands, I rely on my brain to do what I need it to do so I do a lot of those things. You know, normal stuff, things I’ve always done. I might take on a challenge like drawing, cook something new, paint the house, write a bit, sit and think. I do that a lot. People say I’m just sitting there all day. True. They don’t know how busy my brain really is: just thinking.
And when tomorrow comes I’ll do some more sitting and thinking and if anyone asks I tell them I hadn’t finished from yesterday.
About 40 years back, while undergoing some sort of therapy I didn’t understand a young girl told me she writes stuff down in a diary every day. What a good idea, I thought. I still do.
Then I f I forget something I consider really important I can search in my own private version of google.
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