Living with Dayslexia

That Little Voice

Oh, I’m relieved!

My ‘What day is it?’ posting received a multitude of comments about this phenomenon of not knowing what day of the week it is. Apparently, it is a common state of confusion for all ages, but especially acute in those who have lived a long time.

This disorder has gone unnamed, unresearched and unexplained until now. Thanks to my son Wade, we now have a definition and a name for this ailment.

Dayslexia

This newly labeled difficulty is an unexpected struggle to remember the day of the week.

Symptoms include slow and labor-intensive utilization of the calendar, and usually is accompanied with the question, “Why am I in this room?”

Experts, who themselves suffer from this malady, often refer to it as ‘day or date blindness.’

The good news: Dayslexia folks have the intelligence to remember other items of unimportance, meaning they can be very bright people.

My stress level has gone down several notches since finding I am not alone wandering in the confusion of ‘name this day.’ The burden of asking multiple people to clarify if it is the day before Friday or the day after Monday can be overwhelming.

Many of the respondents to my column admitted they, too, can’t identify if it’s wash day or ‘get a haircut’ day. And several asked, ‘Who cares?’

But some had recommendations including: 1. Get a clock (preferably a large one for every room) that announces the day and the time 2. Get a smart watch that displays the information in a large format 3. Ask Siri or Alexa 4. Ask someone who cares 5. Just assume it is always Thursday, as my uncle would say. Just being able to name the malady has eased my mind. allowing me to move on to figure out if I have eaten breakfast. (Anyone else suffering from that glitch in memory?)

I’m heading into the kitchen to eat a bowl of cereal. If there is a dish in the sink, that may mean I have already eaten this morning, or maybe I didn’t wash the dish from last night. Who cares? I’m hungry.

I’m thinking we need to send the name of this new ailment and its symptoms to Webster’s, and to Mayo’s so they can put the minds of others struggling with Dayslexia at ease.

Thanks Wade for his clever response, and to all you who know what I’m talking about.