It could be that most of your “problem”, if there really is one, is that you have unrealistic expectations of how human memory works. The fact you used the term database, albeit jokingly, gives us a hint.
From our current POV[sup]1[/sup] in early 2016 for 7-8 years ago you’re talking about 2008 or 2009.
From around then I can tell you which house I lived in, what jobs I had, what car I owned, and roughly what projects we were working on at work.
Meantime almost all of daily living from then is a total blur. Did I take a vacation that year? I don’t know. Was that the year the first tree fell on the house, or the second tree, or was that the year before or after? I have no clue. I do clearly remember two different incidents in two adjacent years where trees fell on the house. I could even tell you a bit about the circumstances & aftermath. But nothing more than the gist of the story.
That’s normal human memory. If you expect to remember 8 years ago in more detail, the problem isn’t your memory, it’s your expectations.
Memory is also strongly cue-driven. We remember more than we can freely recall. In that year I was working as a software developer. If you showed me a project I was working on from then I could immediately recognize my code versus somebody else’s & pretty quickly recall enough to explain it and the overall project to you.
Likewise if you showed me a dated theater concert ticket or sporting event ticket. If I didn’t go to too many such events I could probably recall the concert or game & what happened there. At least in broad brush outline. But without the ticket I go nuthin.
But all that’s recall assisted by the outside cue. Sitting here today I can’t recall a specific project I can identify as being from 2008-2009 versus before or after. Nor a particular play, concert, or sporting event. I know I went to some pretty regularly, but which? No clue.
If you give us some examples of the kinds of things you think you recall from then vs. how you expect to recall them vs. how your friends recall them we can give you a reasonableness check on your memory.
For sure if this bothers you then you should seek professional help. But don’t be surprised if the issue turns out not to be your memory at all.
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- Shouldn’t that be TOV = Time of View?