When the Answer Comes To You Two Hours Later

@megamatt (14292)
United States
April 10, 2012 7:47am CST
I do detest when that happens. There is a question that is being asked but for some reason, my mind seems to be on a delay. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen at the most annoying and utterly frustrating times. Then it comes to me, likely when I am laying in bed or going to the bathroom or some time where the moment is lost. Or I thought of something that I should have said, but I didn't. That is one quirk of the human mind, it sometimes comes up with the right answers but at the wrong moment.
1 person likes this
9 responses
• Ireland
10 Apr 12
Been there, done that and definitely have a wardrobe full of t-shirts from it! I reckon my hamsters are just on strike or having a blonde moment and blame it on that. For me it's most often a word, name or place I couldn't thin of and the number one spot goes to the argument hamsters who can never be smartass enough to come up with a quick one liner when I need them!
• Ireland
10 Apr 12
You're most welcome meagmatt. The hamsters thank you for imparting your genious.
• Ireland
10 Apr 12
*genius Darnit! The hamsters are at it again, see?
• Philippines
11 Apr 12
That happened to me hundreds of times already. And the most annoying part is when someone really needs the answer asap and you just forgot that the answer is. And then you remember it a few hours later or worst the next day after, or when the person need that answer is not there anymore. Then you pick up your phone, you text or call that person and them boom!, it's too late. He already knew it. .
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
11 Apr 12
The second one, so many times. And here is a slightly alternate version of that. A while ago, I was looking for a part for something, that I couldn't find. I looked high and low or so it seemed. But I couldn't find anything, so I had to find a replacement part. Sure enough after I bought it, it turned out. Funny how that works out. Then that answer will come to you when people have ceased caring about the matter at hand. Or like you have said, found the answers by alternate means. A shame that we let them down, but at least they came to the answer and we figured it out. So I guess that somewhat works, kind of but not really. Still it is bad to be too late on the draw. Thanks for responding.
• Philippines
11 Apr 12
I agree, it's kinda depressing that we are not able to figure it out right that instant. That it will take hours or even days before we finally remember it or find a certain thing. Its funny how our brain play tricks on us and most of them happen on a very unexpected time. A time where our "precious memory" is badly needed by someone.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
10 Apr 12
Oh, yes, it happens to me a lot! Especially when I'm hurried or frustrated, I can't think of the right answer or the right thing to say. Or I answer what I think is the right thing, then later realize I should have said something different. The human brain is a mystery at times.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
11 Apr 12
The human brain is quite the fascinating tool to say the least. Just when we think we have these things rather figured out, there is just some other idea that comes to us. And I wish I had just said something else right in the past, then what I had said right now on this day. But that is just the way things go. No matter what I might have said, it never turns out as well. That realization comes hours later. And sometimes it does seem rather obvious of what we should of said. Then again, most things tend to do with the benefit of hindsight. Where we have no idea what we should have said, as the answer would be there, but it did not properly find its way out. Those mind blocks can be bad. Thanks for responding.
@lady1993 (27224)
• Philippines
10 Apr 12
Yes, I get that sometimes too- especially when answering a test- usually Math or Physics...there's a question that is so hard, no matter how many times i reread and analyze, but then an hour later when I think back to the question, my mind thinks straight and I can think of the answer. Why is is like that? Just when you need your mind to work you go blank.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
10 Apr 12
Indeed and it does tend to be for things like this. You can just tell when someone's mind is going blank during a test, because they try not to panic but they are obviously going to panic. We would like to think that we can make our minds work on command. I mean it is our mind, should it not work when we need to work properly, to find the right question? But the mind does not really work out that way and it does not work out that well. I find myself utterly baffled and going, "yeah, well if you would have thought about that then, I would have handled a bit better." Not just for my school days but for any time that has happen. Oh well, such is just the art of the human mind. Thanks for your response.
@polaris77 (2040)
• Bacau, Romania
10 Apr 12
Unfortunately that thing happens to me as well in some occasions and it's very frustrating to realize that you finally found an answer or solution to a problem,but it's too late for that answer to be of any use.Anyway,the mind can't be trained to be able to come with the right answer exactly when we need,so I guess there isn't in too much to do in such situations.We can only accept them as they are and hope that in other occasions those answers will be kind enough to come to our mind when we really need them.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
10 Apr 12
Indeed that is very true. We can be frustrated about it, but there really is not really that much more we can do. The answer is something that we are just wish is something that we would have had on hand maybe about an hour or two or whenever earlier. Yet it comes and it is just like some big old slap to our brain. Everything just seems rather clear now. We just got to just deal with it as it comes. Because there is really not that much at all that we can do about it. It is going to happen and whatever happens, is going to happen. Hopefully it doesn't happen too often and the answers come more readily. I think that we hope that every time something like this happens. Thanks for the response.
@haopee (493)
• Philippines
11 Apr 12
Hi Megamatt, I can totally relate to what your saying. It's like having a reaction block and that happens to me when I've already input all that I have to say and that I'm running out opinions. There's also instances that that will happen when I, like you mentioned, stopped for a little break and came back to type it.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
11 Apr 12
The reaction block is pretty much the key thing. We stand there, as time seems to stand still but it really doesn't. As our brains are searching for something, time does rather pass at a fluid rate in the outside world. Perhaps a bit faster than we would rather like. But never the less, it is passing and thus we get rather frustrated. It is rather great when we can just go back to the well later on and have time to think. But when we do not have that luxury, as we often don't, that is a problem. With things that don't happen in real time, we have that luxury and there are times where I just step back and things become clearer now. But they sometimes become much clearer, much later. Thanks for your response.
@Eskimo (2315)
20 Jul 12
I have the same problem. answers usually come to me in the middle of the night, or when walking the dog. I've solved a number of work problems that way, before I retired I was a Biomedical Scientist and manager of the laboratory computer system, so always had problems that needed to be sorted.
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
10 Apr 12
Hi Megamatt, it always happens during the examination period. No matter how you think, you cannot remember the main points. After the examination is over, then you recall, but you cannot go back, and ask for the examination paper again. I think scientists have to spend more time researching on our brains, instead of searching for life outside our planet.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
10 Apr 12
Well there would be no worse time for something like that to come to you then during exams. And there are times where my mind has gotten utterly and completely blank, to the point. And I know that I studied this, but it rather seems to be something right in the back of my mind that just won't find its way out and that's caused many students frustration. When the exam is turned in, it is turned in. It would be an interesting topic of study. The human mind is complex, as the fact that while we know much, we don't rather know enough about it to rather be clear most of the time. It is just something that is extremely interesting to think about for sure. Thanks for your response.
• India
20 Jul 12
That is just how the human mind works. Most of the times when in panic or anxious to quickly remember something the mind experiences surges in the electrical impulses it uses to get information through neurons. These surges make it extremely difficult to remember especially at that moment when the answer is needed, but later on when you give up the efforts that are when you remember.