I don't think of our memory as a storage device, but more like a compression algorithm, that forgetting is important. We don't need to memorize several math textbooks to know algebra - if you can generalize the quadratic equation, are familiar with Pascals triangle, the unit circle - that's several compendiums of knowledge. For our short term memory, improvisational music is a good workout. If you are well read but struggle to find the right words to say then you are not writing enough. Or so it seems to me, most people here are way more educated than I am. There was a time for me after years of occupational lobotomy doing construction work when I attended a community college where I felt like a complete vegetable for about 18 months before I regained some neuroplasticity, and another time when I had serious depression that lasted for about a year before I emerged feeling like a stranger in my on home surrounded by all these tools, computers, musical instruments... it was a very long time getting reacclimated with it all. There is no respite, when we stop - starting back is difficult, like getting in shape or breaking destructive habits.