Reminiscence Bump.
Total recall of quiet corners of the brain -6 min read.
At a certain age there’s something that comes flooding back.
Your brain becomes awash with memories from when you were a teenager into your early twenties.
Surges of playbacks like looking at old slides - not the rusty metal ones in playgrounds either, albeit these may end up being in some recollections; the neat white square-framed ones containing photograph negatives. Yes, those.
They randomly come falling back out of the spare cupboard demanding review when you least expect.
What is Happening?
A common experience when people hit the 40 - 50 age mark is known as the ‘Reminiscence Bump.’
Whatever first-time experiences there were - first love, job, home, between ages 15 - 25 get stored away as files, then when review date arrives, 30 or so years later they get poured out onto the middle of a conference table.
For some this may be overwhelming, particularly if some past files are moth chewed, unsightly records to us that should be binned.
Why is it Happening?
Around age 50 there can be a lot of significant life changes occurring.
See if any tick the boxes for you below:
Career shift.
Taking stock of life goals.
Children leaving the nest.
Moving from the family home into something smaller.
Illnesses.
Loss of aged parents.
Any of these things can trigger nostalgia.
Benefits:
When the memories start surfacing it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in mayhem.
There’s a term for this, ‘Midlife Crisis’.
The word crisis is a strong word to use when describing what the brain is working out for itself.
It has found a time when it feels safe enough to relax and reflect, not exactly a crisis per se’, but sometimes what is dragged up makes us feel it could be.
By the brain doing this it also is able to measure how far you’ve come.
A bit like doing stock take after open hours at a department store, except instead of every year, the brain does it only when its stock buildup is significant.
Then the rewards in bulk should be enough to propel you forward, hopefully as a refined version of what you were and of what you will become.
Those Unsightly Files?
These you’d rather leave behind.
The thing is you can’t, because even the negatives make up why and how you have landed where you have in life. To have adequate momentum propelling forward these must be addressed to reduce lag.
When we understand what is going on, anything that could be overwhelming is put into a contained place while we then think about how those files will be addressed.
If the negative files are of traumatic experiences, then journaling them down whenever they reappear can be a good way at proactively assisting your own brains filing system to work efficiently, opposed to it hypothetically collapsing in the office reception because your inbox is overflowing.
There’s no Stopwatch.
How you deal with it and by what means is specific to you.
Nobody else can rightly suggest when they suppose they think your work ought to be over.
So don’t let them.
Respectfully remind the other person that you are dealing with a new procedure, and you need time. Then allow yourself to take it.
This could look like:
Better prioritization of tasks:
Appointments, work, study, family and self, etc.
Each requires its own time slot, and each will need reshuffling, or time allowance adjustment, e.g.
Tues pm - Free for self to rest, reflect and recover.
Wed am - No direct phone calls / study hour.
Thurs pm - Family.
Your specific schedule will likely include hourly takes and varied days.
Unknown Contributors.
Other things like certain smells or songs can be triggers for the memories, including visiting old places.
All things that switch the green flashing sign on, open for business.
There’s no escaping it, even if and when you want to.
The only thing you can do is go with it.
Further Benefits.
Despite some difficult memories, if these are acknowledged then you can begin resolving them.
Often, it’s the emotions these re-introduce that can make some people want to avoid them but keep in mind that emotions are only a response. And we want to work on the cause.
By shifting your focus from:
How I feel.
to
What is the Cause?
-
You are in effect taking back the control you didn’t have in the past.
Now you are coming in from a builder’s mindset and moving away from being just an onlooker caught in the dust.
Mood Regulation.
From time to time, we all experience flashbacks with much of the past hugely forgotten. Well, that’s how it seems, until we are presented with our very own encyclopedia at Reminiscence Bump time with our reading schedule locked in without consent.
Great. So, let’s work with it. Even do some long-awaited renovations.
Revisiting can also allow us to go back to pleasant scenes that ease feelings of loneliness and help manage stress in the now.
Thinking about this fact can help alleviate any overwhelm from the more negative memories.
It also allows us to more readily pull the positive recollection back up again at will because it’s resurfacing has left it lingering on the surface.
Nostalgia tends to peak through whenever we experience periods of transition in our lives.
The type of nostalgic reflections will differ though depending on how old we are at the time. The older we are the more we have stored in our memory bank with significant occasions and events getting stored in the subconscious, hence the belief that what has happened is largely forgotten.
Instead, it’s just about where the file is stored.
Significantly helpful files are contained in the back room, others that could assist further growth now look to be stored in the middle room, while others that can be connected to the most recent patterns of life experience will stay up front while related topics are in use.
There’s literally a constant reshuffle, a standard level of bookkeeping to ensure the company stays running. The memories stored in the very back room, again, are priority files.
These are mostly foundational blueprints crafted from the early blocks provided us.
If our supply of blocks was lacking, then our building work suffered, but we made what we could with what we had anyway.
At around age 50 it is the time those deep files come out, although this time you are sorting them on the table from an adult’s perspective.
That is why this is the time many people relate having a flood of memories from their earlier years. Only now can you reflect with the right lens.
Any earlier and it would be an immature version of yourself trying to sort immature files. That’s an ineffective formula for business.
At the 40 - 50 + age range you are now a product better suited for employment.
You get the job.
There’s good days and bad.
Both are a natural process in order for you to learn and grow further, expand your neural network and see improved success. None of which can happen if you are not ready.
How is the Influx Positive?
Self-Continuity:
Correcting who you are now with who you were then.
Increased Well-Being:
Self-esteem boost and improved sense of social connection.
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Important:
If any memories during your time of reminiscence are bumping you up the wrong way - causing significant upset, then it is always a good idea to seek out professional medical advice.
Here’s to your every success,
Xavior.