Thanks Genie! I'm feeling a bit better today.

Jon G Bartlett, there really are people who have cognitive problems that are caused by something physiological rather than psychological. In my case it's not that I can't remember anything. But there are certain things I don't seem to be able to remember. Whether I like it or not. One of the things I can't remember is numbers. Except if they are said in a way that sounds like a poem. Then, I have a limited ability to remember them. Sometimes.

For some reason, I am not able to remember most lyrics. The exception being some of the simple songs I learned as a child. But there are no songs other than those, that I can remember the lyrics to, even in my head, no matter how many times I've heard the song. This is a bit ironic, because I can remember some poems. If they have an obvious and easily understood structure and if they rhyme.

I can remember melodies and I usually can play melodies without looking at sheet music (if the piece isn't too long or complicated). But I have much more difficulty remembering chords (which are played using one button per chord on the left side of my accordion). So I use sheet music for a lot of the pieces I play for the chords. I practice almost every day, usually for at least a couple of hours each time. So it's not that I'm not putting the effort in. But despite this, there are only a few out of all of the pieces I play, that I don't need to use sheet music for the chords.

Different people's brains are wired differently. Some brains are good at some things, and others are good at other things. This is quite natural, but it can be a bit distressing when people assume that everyone else's brains should be good at what their brains are good at. I bet there are some things my brain can do that your brain can't do.

I'm particularly good at remembering conversations. I can remember almost word for word things that people say, in surprising detail, long after they've said them, and long after they've forgotten what they've said themselves. And for some weird reason, I can remember the Latin names of plants that I identified more than twenty years ago. But for some weird reason, I can't remember lyrics. I think that if I could do it, I would.

At any rate, the fact that some people experience cognitive difficulties that other people don't experience is born out by science. Brain scans have been done on people with different kinds of problems, and it has been shown that there are actual physical reasons that some people experience cognitive problems.

The last thing I want to say is that it's often humiliating enough having such cognitive problems anyway, without people suggesting that we could do better if we tried. And believe me, people seem to love to say things like that. To me it's like telling someone in a wheelchair, "I bet you could walk if you really tried".

Now, as far as the "can't sing" bit goes, in my case it's not that I can't. It's that I don't. If I wanted to, I would. But perhaps there are people who can't. We're all different.