Many of my friends comment on a regular basis how we can’t remember things very well any more. It could be our inability to recall what we ate for dinner the night before, or our embarrassing blank moments when asked about old relationships (we seriously have omitted memories of certain intimate moments with various individuals). It’s a trend that I’ve noticed in the 40-plus crowd, and we speculate that it’s only going to get worse.

But then I had a thought. I don’t necessarily think that a ‘failing’ memory is an indication that you’re losing it. No, in fact, I think it might be the opposite. I think about how many people I’ve met over the last 2 decades, and how much I’ve learned on my numerous jobs throughout my career path, and the sheer volume of information that I’m expected to retain (names, faces, university courses, job tasks, general data, trivia, information, etc). The amount of knowledge I’m expected to have at this point in my life is astronomical when I compare myself to where I was fresh out of high school.

So, in a way, it makes sense for previous, lesser memories to be crowded out by new information that inundates my brain every day. In fact, my failing memory is a sign of intelligence, and a sign that my brain is still healthy and I am learning on a regular basis.

Well, that’s what I’m going to tell myself anyway.