Remembering what year something happened..

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This may not have anything to do with ASDs, but if it does, this seems like the best place to ask..
I have a REALLY hard time remembering what year stuff happened, (or what age I was, or how many years ago it was, or how many years certain events lasted...) and I don't know how to fix this. I don't understand how other people do it. I mean, a memory from one year has exactly the same qualities as one from 5 years later, pretty much. (For me at least.) How are you supposed to keep track of it?? Do you really just have to make a conscious effort to infuse your memories with the year or something?
And if you have no trouble remembering the year, can you explain why?

Because so many autistics remember very finite details such as dates and numbers, a lot of the general public forgets that just because that is how one person's autism presents itself, doesn't mean all autistics are like that. We are susceptible to developmental disabilities just like anyone else separate from our autism, and the autism itself can bring varied traits within itself. To answer your question, most people do have a natural instinct for time management within their memories. It is one way that the mind is able to cope with the large amounts of information that it has to sort through at a given time. Not everyone has that mechanism, but I would call it a rather rare condition to not have it. One of my autistic traits is that I have an extremely good memory, like I can still remember a couple things from when I was 3 months old and a great many things from then up until now. It gets rather confusing at times and migraine inducing not because of lack of structure, but due to volume. I'm not sure that anyone other than a developmental psychologist can help you with it, if even they can, but if it's not causing you excessive problems then there is not any reason (in my opinion) to change who you are.

I can't explain why I remember in what year (sometimes even what month) certain things happened, I just do. It's just the way that my mind works just like yours and everyone elses will work differently. I agree with the above post.

*hands up* WigglySpider, I definitely experience problems with remembering stuff. My memory for when things happened used to be pretty good, but these days I have no idea. I can't remember what years I had certain jobs and when certain events happened in my life.
I also can remember certain events but they feel like they happened to someone else and not me and all I am remembering is a story about them.
Probably got nothing to do with my suspected autism though, but still very unsettling.

I can tell you precisely what I did December 16, 2004.

I cannot explain why.

Ok, I am now insanely jealous of you. If you follow me around, can you tell me the precise dates I did stuff.

If it's such a big deal, make a table in Excel and update it every day

My special intrests are usualy tied in such as I can't really remember anything before 1994 when Lion King came out. If I do remember anything before that date, it's a blur. I laugh at fansites with "symptoms" of being too obsessed with a certian movie and one of them is memories previous to its release being a blur. Ha! Fools! You do not know anything!

Last edited by PunkyKat on 04 Mar 2010, 12:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

That is a pretty good idea for those big life events like changing jobs, going on holidays etc.
Thanks for the suggestion.

I remember on what date something happened if I saw the date visually and the name of the event written beside it. My executive memory, however, is lacking. I don't remember my own actions, but I remember very clearly my surroundings and my sensations from the past. They are not tied to any dates, with the above exception I've just mentioned.
But yeah, according to Temple Grandin's 3 autistic types of mind, mine is mathematical and musical. I remember logical connections well, but have a very poor sense of time overall.

I tend to get years confused. Like I would think something happened in 2007 when really it happened in 2008. Besides that, I'm pretty good at remembering the years. I blog and keep a journal now, so I guess that fixed my problem.

I actually thought this thread was about remembering the years in detail. My sister would tease me because when I would talk about something that happened in the past that I'd know the weather, the exact time and what I was wearing.

It really depends upon the situation. I have problems remembering things out of the ordinary or routine (like what I did on a certain date at work). I am lots better (often down to finite details of actions and conversations), when something happened that was out of the ordinary.

As an example, I was at a city council meeting this evening, where the council had a discussion about putting my mayor friend's community on the city that I live in's water supply (he was mayor of a neighboring community). Strangely. in discussing this with a couple members of the audience, I was able to remember conversations that I had with my friend almost verbaitum, generally when I had that conversation and where I was at when I had the conversation with my friend. I found this a little freaky, but again it was a unusual and fulfilling point in my life.

I guess this is probably what I should do, heh.
I'm jealous too. XD;
It's just.. not there, for me. At all.;;; I try and think about the years, the dates, the numbers.. and it's just an abstract void.
It feels like what Brennan described.

Years? I have trouble remembering what happened last week. Hell, I can only give you a general idea of what I did yesterday. Something happens when I go to sleep, before I fall asleep I reflect on what happened that day, but when I wake up I can not remember any specific details unless they caught my attention (in which case I remember it indeffinately but not on which date it happened).

I remember dates, because I have timeaxis in my head (and GPS and dictionaries and every thing and a little more ) and I can move it or reverse. There no single days, they all are constant line.

My old song from school: I don't like History, but History likes me (MM cover).

I'm the opposite. I remember exactly what happens, and what year it's happened in. It doesn't always work in my favour. I do have flashbacks, from time to time.