However, there is one big change that isn't necessarily troubling, but it's certainly alarming.
I've become a forgetful person. Not like, "oops, I forgot to switch the laundry over before I left for work this morning", it's more like "oops, I forgot that pretty important meeting", or "oops, I left my ATM card in the machine two hours ago".
I've been told by my therapist that this is normal, but I'm having a hard time adjusting to it, and it's leading me to do things like get halfway to wherever I'm going and turn around to make sure I turned the oven off, or think obsessively about whether or not I made sure to drop my dog's food off with him to daycare on a long day, to the point where I've called them a couple of times to make sure I did it. I literally have to repeat it to myself three times right after I do something (like locking the door) for it to stick in my head that it's done. I guess it just feels so alarming to me because I was never like this before EMDR. I didn't even need to use a day planner or a calendar with any kind of regularity before, and now I'm finding that I can't not use it if I want to remember everything. This is to say nothing of the idea that because I have anxiety and work so hard to hide it, being less than "perfect" and accepting it is a challenge for me (but one that I need to work on - I have gotten feedback from TWO of my professors that people don't trust a counselor who comes off as "perfect", so it's ok to let my emotions and imperfections show a little bit...so it's something that I'm working on, albeit with great trepidation)
Is this normal? If so, does it go away? It's certainly not a dealbreaker if it doesn't, because it feels like being a little absentminded is a small price to pay for my anxiety being gone. I'm feeling like I just need to know that I'm not experiencing something abnormal here.
