How I am to know which is it? I shudder to think memory loss so I will keep telling myself it’s a combination of menopause and mom brain. Coming to think of it, it’s more of the latter. I don’t know if mom brain ever really goes away and having had three children that brain fog is now compounded three times over.
A simple thing like going to have a glass of water in the kitchen turns into into a mind sleuth. I stop to check my phone, on my way there and now I’m spinning around and wondering what I am doing in the kitchen in the first place.
Don’t even start with doing laundry, I cannot tell you the number of times that I put my detergent and fabric softener in and start filling the washing machine and the end result is a very clean interior, because I never got around to putting the clothes in.
It happens to me all the time, to the point where it’s not even funny. Once I met someone who called me out by name in the supermarket and gave me a boisterous hug. This is me thinking that this person knows me and knows me well, because people don’t go around hugging random strangers. We chat a bit, all the while I am smiling broadly but racking my brain trying to place who she was. Of course by now I am too embarrassed to ask her name and she is beaming and happy that we met after all these years and that I haven’t changed much since school. Thank God for the hint, but which school, I attended a few. This one had me so stumped that all of that night and part of the next day my brain was working overtime to find out the identity of this mystery woman. I eventually figured out who she was but to my credit, I hadn’t seen her in about twenty years and she was wearing a wig which made it a tad more difficult.
I can be as focused and intentional as I want and I simply don’t remember. Honestly, I feel it has more to do with the maelstrom of thoughts and that never-ending to-do list that women and mothers jostle with daily, than mom brain or menopause. Time management gurus tell you to schedule, schedule, schedule but they forget to tell you to schedule time to check the schedule.
My advice, don’t beat yourself up about it. Remember the lady in the supermarket, smile broadly and keep it pushing.
Seriously though, do not rely on your memory alone, good old pen and paper still does the trick, so too, the many scheduling tools on your phone. Use them! Limit distractions when you are task bound, if you’re anything like me the slightest distraction can throw you off. So write it down, stay focused, be intentional. Make a list and check it often. Get to it and if you still can’t remember, maybe tomorrow.
Share your tips on how you stay focused. Leave a comment, send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
2 Comments
Great content.
Thank you!