We as humans, of course, cannot remember every single thing we do. As the days pass by how much do you actually remember from them? Do you know what you had for breakfast three days ago? Can you recall that conversation you had last week? Well, maybe you can. If these events were exciting or routine they tend to be easier to remember. It also depends on the person and what they remember and how much they remember of it.

A statistic that is often thrown around is people forget 40% of what they learned in 20 minutes and 77% of what they learned in six days. Again, this varies by person.

There are those moments though that are so life changing or significant that a person will hold on to the memory for the rest of their lives. The memory stays with them and plays a part in defining who they are. That might be the happiest moment of your life, the lowest point in your life, or something so traumatizing you can never forget it among many other scenarios.

A lot of the time, though, a good portion of our everyday normal lives go forgotten. I don’t think this is a bad thing. Not every moment of our lives can be the most exciting thing ever.

The fact of the matter is that it is unnecessary for us to remember every second of everyday. Though even our most exciting moments do fade in our memories with time.

The earliest year we start to remember things is when we turn two and a half years old. A lot of those very first memories tend to leave you around the age of seven. I find it fascinating that it is possible that we can forget portions of our lives and never get those memories back.

I like to think about that scene from the movie Inside Out (Link to scene here).  Joy and Bing Bong are in Riley’s memory dump sifting through the forgotten moments in her life that have been pushed aside by more recent memories. I find it interesting that our minds don’t retain many early memories and entire portions of our lives can be forgotten.

This may seem like a grim thought, but our past experiences still shape us into the people we become even if you don’t remember every detail.

Our memories, good or bad are not doubt a part of us. Though every moment we face might not be remembered, it is necessary to look into the future for opportunities to make new ones.