Childhood Memories: The Strange Kid Who Wrote Down Numbers
This month, I have been running my own unofficial participation in the NaNoWriMo challenge, using Steemit as a portal to try to develop more daily stability in my writing.
As a result, I have been keeping daily track of my writing: How many posts, how many comments, how many words that amounts to.
Numbers: A Strange Obsession
Stones on the beach...
As I was "doing the numbers" this morning, I found myself reminiscing about one of my childhood quirks-- I used to "record" many things in my life.
I always had a notebook handy-- which I called my "journal," to anyone who asked-- which was mostly filled with numbers I would write down daily: How far I had ridden on my bike, all the scores from practicing on the dart board, how many times I bounced my ball, what time I went to bed... I wrote it all down, every day.
Sometimes I would even invent things to do, that I could keep track of. As about an eight or nine-year old I would "compete" with myself in how long I could hold my breath, and then neatly write down all the times in one of my books. It was probably a pretty weird and twisted thing for a kid to be doing, but there it was.
Aspiring Historian... or "Rain Man?"
In looking back, I am not really sure when I got into the habit, but I couldn't have been much more than six or seven when I started "competing with myself" in certain games I had... mostly out of curiosity for how good a score I could make, and in part because I didn't trust my memory.
Driftwood tree stump on the beach...
Actually, that's not quite true. What I couldn't "trust" was the responses of adults around me who'd insist that I was "telling stories" or that my ideas were "rubbish" so there was a safety in writing things down in the moment because the paper pages wouldn't lie.
I am sure some of it was also due to the fact that I spent 90% of my childhood and youth alone, and I was simply trying to entertain myself. Besides... somehow "writing things down" made it feel more like my life actually existed.
I am also not sure when I ended this odd practice... or IF I ever consciously ended it. Seems more like I just "stopped having enough time" to record life, once I left college.
Yes, I was still "recording life" in college, meticulously writing down my daily running times, and keeping track of all my golf scores.
Even today-- almost 35 years later-- there is a "strangely comfortable familiarity" in making daily notes of the numbers of my writing progress. And I continue to wonder whether I was merely a bored and lonely kid, or of I was mildly autistic...
How about YOU? Does this sound like an odd thing for a kid to do? Did you have any "odd habits" of your own, as a kid? Do you know-- from the perspective of now being an adult-- why you had them? Were they easy to end, or did they continue into adulthood? Do they seem strange to you, now? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 171116 08:28 PDT
I think of you as one of the more consistent writers here on Steemit. So it's interesting that you felt you needed to be more consistent. I've always tried to not record things, lol. I didn't want there to be a record of anything.
Thanks... I guess maybe I am from a chronological perspective, but creatively it always feels like ebb or full flow and nothing in between. The whole recording thing-- I think-- really grew out of this sense that my lofe wasn't "real" somehow, so I'd better write it down...
Maybe the number-recording habit is a manifestation of intelligence mixing with loneliness?
When I was about six or seven years old, I remember occasionally climbing a tall tree to count and write down how many of each kind of vehicle drove by the four-way stop below. I was gathering data that I never used for anything. But apparently I wasn't the only kid who did "unusual" things like that! ☺
Interesting... I figured I probably wasn't the only one. And I like your interpretation... which is nicely free of society's tendency to characterize anything that isn't "average" as a pathology or mental disturbance.
I'm pretty sure it's harmless, since it never interfered with my ability to live life...
A habit or behavior is probably still "quirk-level" if it doesn't interfere with daily life activities ☺
I don't really have any memories as a child with numbers since first of all I hated math He. He. but I guess this is sort of odd since I was very young I loved to clean and no matter where I went either to my friend's house or families house, I would start cleaning their rooms and till this day cleaning relaxes me.
I used to have a journal, like you but I found myself never going back and looking at it or reading it, I stopped writing things down, but I agree with you that by writing things down makes it more realistic.
Maybe we just reach for things that give us a measure of comfort when things are a bit difficult... my "numbers thing" started at a time when I was feeling very uprooted.
You just reminded me of my counting habit, I didnt write it down but counted everything i did, how many steps to the shop, how long I could do a handstand lol I think I still do it now when I am bored :)
I would have to agree that boredom definitely played a part in this. We moved so much when I was a kid that I hardly ever had time to make friends.
Thats a shame, sometimes I had more fun counting :)