The Doorway Effect

It’s real, guys! You go to another room and you can’t for the life of you remember what you were going for.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect

That's not a readers over sixty problem - I've faced that one ever since I was a kid.
The worst was one day when I was about 12 and I announced I was going to bicycle downtown (about 2 miles in the town where I lived) to pick up something at the hobby shop. As I was heading towards the door first Mom, then Dad, then my brother and sister added something to the list. I got downtown , got everything everyone wanted and couldn't remember what it was I wanted nor which store I needed to go to to get it.

Although I hadn't read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty then it was just like the scene where he is trying to remember to buy puppy biscuits. I got all the way home and it was about a day later when I finally remembered what I wanted to get. I slipped out of the house without telling anyone and went into town and made my purchase.

Why did I open this thread?

Happened today. I got up to do something and did several things, sat back down, and remembered what I was supposed to do.

I’ve been getting more exercise, because my tasks involve the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs, if I’ve forgotten the why of the trip, I look around for some other task.
I’ve pulled all sorts of things out of bins. Some of it is still scattered across the living room for further review. But I have managed to take a carload of miscellaneous stuff to Goodwill.
Two wins.

Reminds me of the old joke about the three old chaps who share a house. One of them goes upstairs to take a bath. After a few minutes, he calls down to them, "I can't remember: am I getting into the bath, or am I getting out of it?"

The second one looks at his oppo and says, "He's a forgetful old fool. I'll go upstairs and help him." But halfway up the stairs, he stops and calls down, "I can't remember: am I going up the stairs or am I coming down?"

The third old bloke says to himself, "I'd better go and help them. Thank God I'm not forgetful like them, touch wood!" and he knocks on the wooden table top for luck. On hearing the knock, he looks towards the front door and calls out, "Yes? Who's there?"

Not to brag

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_SYOK9uRW8/?igsh=b3owZXhyZ2R0NW5p

A Guardian Weekly challenge some years ago was "What do you call old age?"

A reader responded: "I call it the Hereafter: as in, "What did I come in here after?"

I consider going down to the basement an adventure. I may not recall why I went down; but I always find some task to do or some pile to explore, and usually something I’d like to have upstairs.

>2 alco261: I agree about it not being just an over 60 problem. It hit me the worst - really, really badly - during menopause.