The Difference Of A Person Who Has A Photographic Memory

The Difference Of A Person Who Has A Photographic Memory

I have a photographic memory. In a lot of ways it has been a great advantage. I retain information well. I did not have to do a lot of studying for tests. I did not have to take a lot of notes.

I can remember events that happened a long time ago in great detail. Each memory is like a movie that plays inside of my head. I can remember numbers well. I was told to remember a model number on a Honda 50 motor cycle so that me and a friend could get a part for it. Once it is in my memory, It will never leave. I was in high school at the time in 1989. I still remember that number to this day. It was "C110-203872". I can remember phone numbers that people had when I was a kid.

I have read and studied the Bible and I retain a lot of that well. I also watch a lot of nature documentaries and I retain information very well. I was in Haiti for a mission trip and I was called "the walking and talking encyclopedia".

There are disadvantages to having a photographic memory. Every time a memory gets triggered, I will not only remember the event, but I will feel what I felt when it happened. That makes it very difficult to forgive, but God gave me the strength to forgive a lot of the terrible things I went through. The triggers do not necessarily have to be bad events, but can be good events too. I doesn't matter if it happened yesterday or 30 or more years ago. If it is a sad event, I will feel sad. If it is a funny event, I will break out in a laughter. It could be a scene in a movie that caused me to be sad or that caused me to laugh. I recently broke out laughing about a scene in a movie that I saw 15 years ago.

Most people are not like that and most people's memories are not that extremely sharp. If I had to tell someone that I was laughing about the movie scene that happened 15 years ago, they would think I was nuts.

Most of the time these triggers usually occur during idle times. Keeping myself preoccupied greatly reduces these triggers.

Most people would have triggers and flashbacks of their very traumatic experiences. People like me and possibly others with photographic memories would have triggers and flashbacks on every event big or small. We cannot prevent them from happening, but only reduce their chances of happening by keeping busy.

When these triggers happen, I am fully aware of my surroundings and fully coherent as to what is going on.

People with photographic memories my seem different or may act different. I hope that by sharing this that we can have a better understanding of the differences of others and be more accepting of others rather than having negative thoughts about them or assuming that they are nuts.

Everyone is different. If we learn to accept those who are different, we can learn a lot from one another.

Rodney Calmes