Southern Kross
Away with the fairies
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2008
- Messages
- 2,910
- MBTI Type
- INFP
- Enneagram
- 4w5
- Instinctual Variant
- so/sp
Yeah, I know what that feels like. When I have to keep too many things in my head or do a list of things exactly my brain turns to sludge. I check things a thousand times over because I'm paranoid that I've forgotten or missed something.I don't know if this is a me thing, an INFJ thing, or a Ni related thing, or just health related brain fog but I find that I often have difficulty with all of these things and have since I was a little kid.
I can't remember lists of details at all. I need a context or something meaningful to me to help me remember - or alternatively I have to do it over and over again until it goes in. If someone tells me a phone number I only hear the first 2-3 numbers and I'm already overloaded; every number after that is just "blah, blah, blah". Even if I'm writing it down I have to get the person to say no more than 2 numbers at a time.I used to watch those spy movies and marvel at the hero being told detailed instructions once and remembering everything. It's not that I can't remember details. It just seems like certain details are really difficult for me. People related details are much easier to deal with than something more surroundings/time related.
I have a very good sense of direction. I can find my way around new places pretty well even without a map (like taking a completely different way back to the place I started). I don't like navigating by GPS because I like to be aware of where I am and be able to explore myself. i don't worry about getting lost because I figure I'll work it out eventually even if I do.I don't have a strong sense of direction, even though I am extremely good with maps. If you ask me what I saw on my drive to school, I would often have a hard time telling you.
However I am oblivious of details around me. I can drive somewhere and have no memory of the ride there. It's kinda scary; it makes me wonder if I was even paying attention. I'm afraid that if something had gone wrong (like a car pulling out in front of me) I wouldn't have been capable of reacting to it.
I'm like this too.I think back over events of a month's time and while certain details are easily recallable, anything to do with specific times and dates and what happened right then are hazier. I'm surprised at people who are easily able to recall the specific date of their last few periods, even though mine is pretty regular and predictable. Maybe it's just that it isn't terrible important, or that I'm not concerned about pregnancy/fertility right now, but the best I could come up with is a general part of the month.
Yeah, I'm hopeless at remembering street names unless it's important or easy to do so. Usually I reckon what does it matter? If I know what it looks like it, so what difference will the name of the street make. The main exception is if I'm in Auckland (which is the largest city in NZ) because it's a much bigger, bustling city. You have to worry about motorway exits to particular streets, and with all the traffic, you're more generally in touch with the names of the main arterial routes and short cuts etc.I wouldn't be able to tell you the first thing about most things I drive by, nor the names of roads. BUT. I have a very good visual sense of direction / where I am.
I read somewhere it's a American (or perhaps more generally a North American) thing to give directions in terms of North, South, East and West. Here, on the other hand, people would say right or left - and I think this is probably the case in the Australia, UK, and maybe Europeans too etc. I'm not sure of the reason why - perhaps we see travelling in a slightly different way. Perhaps Americans think in terms of the wider, standardised, common picture of where they are and where they want to get to, whereas we think in terms of the immediate experience and our personal perception of the space. This is strange really because I've read its a more Male thing to do it the first way and a more Female thing the do it the latter way. It's like how a woman tends to turn a map around so that she's looking at the street at the same angle on the page as she would see it in real life. Men, however, don't usually do this because they tend to be better at rotating the map in their heads and don't need to do it physically (although, I do this rather than the female version, myself). But, you'd expect this divide to exist between the sexes not along cultural boundaries. It's interesting...I remember by visuals. So while I wouldn't be able to give someone directions to a certain place, when I'm driving TO that place, I know I need to head east, then, oh, yeah, I know THAT particular road heads east, so if I take that, I'll get to a N/S road, and then I need to head south, and then I need to take a left at the KFC.... etc.
This could partly be a male/female difference. I remember watching an episode of Child of Our Time and they talked about differences between the sexes in terms of directions. They had boys and girls aged about 10 doing a hedge maze. There were several platforms around the maze where you could climb up and look down on the maze and work out where you needed to go. The boys were very good at doing this and keeping the mental image of the maze in their heads - and they were quite a bit faster than the girls overall. Apparently similar test had been performed before where the results were similar. However, they have also done a variation where statues and objects where placed in the maze in a range of places. When children did this maze the girls were just as good as the boys because they were able to navigate by using distinct landmarks. Females overall tend to be better at this than forming a mental picture of the overall maze. So in other words you're not alone!Thank you all for responding - I've been sick for the last couple of days and haven't gotten to the computer. I've been thinking as I've been reading responses...
- I tend to look at generalities more than specifics, which isn't useful when receiving verbal directions. Highly detailed directions in particular are impossible and I don't have a good feel for east, west, north, south.
- I also go by landmarks. Once I have a clear map in my head, I'm fine. It really helps me to see a visual map of the neighbourhood. I usually write down addresses. I rarely get lost unless relying solely on having been there once and knowing the way.
This is besides the point for me because I think more like a male brain in this regard.