Oddly enough much of my abstract thinking is consumed by Time, and its beholden frames of reference
I never really realized this, or at least never thought about it until my dad got alzheimers. Time is an abstract concept which alzheimers/dementia patients often struggle with.
We also experience time in at least four different ways which are progressively harder to grasp:
The first is time of day.
The second is day of week.
The third is time of year (seasons).
The fourth is years.
If you think about a little child learning this, they obviously learn time of day first, then day of week, then time of year, then years.
In my dad's case, as he lost his grasp of the concept it was in the reverse order. First he lost years. Once, in about 2015 a Doctor asked him what year it was. He answered "Nineteen . . ." So he was cluelessly off by at least 15 years.
Then he lost time of year. He'd ask in the off-season "Who is Ohio State playing this weekend?"
Then he lost day of week. When he could still operate his phone he'd call on a random weekday and ask who Ohio State was playing or what time.
Then he lost time of day. He'd say it was time to go to bed at 10am or ask about lunch at 10pm.
My three year old is going through this the other way. He "gets" time of day and has a vague understanding of days of week but that is it.
