Out of the Drawer: Your Daylight Savings Communication Reset

That quiet hum in the back of your mind?It’s the list that never ends—medications to check, appointments to schedule, phrases you wish you remembered, moments you wish had gone better.

Even when you sit down, your mind whispers, “What did I forget?”

That’s not poor organization—it’s caregiver mental load. The constant weight of decisions, reminders, and emotions stacked on top of each other. Research calls this cognitive offloading. Our brains simply can’t hold it all. When we move information from memory into something visible (lists, boards, habits), performance and peace both improve (Risko & Gilbert, 2016; Morrison & Richmond, 2020). So let’s start there. Not by doing more, but by seeing more.

Every year when the clocks change, I pull out a ladder. I change smoke-detector batteries, replace hard-to-reach light bulbs, check flashlight batteries. It’s never glamorous, but it’s satisfying. It’s one less thing whispering at me later.

Talking with care partners, I realized they live in that same hum. Hundreds of invisible tasks, stacked on top of grief and recovery and fatigue. So we borrowed that cue—Daylight Savings—and turned it into something bigger: a reset for communication, safety, and peace of mind. Because you might not get an extra hour, but you can get your energy back.

Before we talk about household safety or medical lists, start where it matters most: connection.

1. Communication Tools — Out of the Drawer

Most families have a communication drawer. Inside: worksheets, photo cards, cue sheets, dry erase markers, maybe a whiteboard that hasn’t seen daylight in months. Those are your lifelines, they just got buried. Pull them all out, dust them off, and put them in a communication basket or corner—somewhere visible, reachable, shared. And make sure your person with aphasia knows exactly where it is. The responsibility for using these tools doesn’t rest on the care partner alone, it’s a two-way system. If both of you can reach for support when words get tangled, connection feels possible again. Out of sight means out of mind, and out in the open means ready when it’s needed most.

2. Conversation Strategies — Reset and Reflect

Communication isn’t plug-and-play. Spend a few minutes thinking about what works and what doesn’t. Maybe mornings are best. Maybe short questions work better. Maybe gesture or writing replaces stress with relief. Keep a running list of what’s helping and what’s not. That way, when a hard conversation happens, you have a starting place. You can’t predict every interaction, but you can build awareness, and awareness builds confidence.

Daylight Savings gives you a built-in cue. Not to do everything, but to reset what matters most. Every time the clocks change, try these small resets that make your world simpler, safer, and lighter.

A. Communication Tools

☐ Pull out old communication aids (picture boards, worksheets, cue cards)
☐ Replace worn markers or faded photos
☐ Keep tools visible where you talk most
☐ Add new photos to your phone’s “Talk” album
☐ Record a short video that explains aphasia to others

B. Conversation Strategies

☐ Turn off TV during important talks
☐ Face each other and make eye contact
☐ Ask short, single-topic questions
☐ Talk during your best time of day
☐ Keep a note of strategies that worked this week

C. Calendar Anchors & Boundaries

☐ Schedule quiet time—15 minutes counts
☐ Set start/end times for visits
☐ Try saying: “That time doesn’t work for me—send options.”
☐ Add medication refills to your phone reminders
☐ Text kids or family a screenshot of the week

D. Support Network

☐ Ask a neighbor to take out trash cans for a month
☐ Invite a friend for a short social visit or coffee drop-in
☐ Join a virtual conversation group or local meetup
☐ Keep a running “ask list” for small favors

E. Medical & Legal Grab-and-Go

☐ Update and print your medication list
☐ Keep a copy in your purse or glovebox
☐ Save a digital version to your phone
☐ Locate and label your medical power-of-attorney papers
☐ Add your doctor and pharmacy to phone favorites

F. Safety & Household Basics

☐ Change smoke and CO-detector batteries
☐ Test alarms
☐ Check flashlight batteries
☐ Add a night-light for safe walking paths
☐ Restock your emergency bag

When you pull everything out—your communication tools, your systems, your support—you move from reaction to rhythm. You stop asking “What did I forget?” and start feeling, “We’ve got this covered.” Even hospitals use visible systems to reduce mistakes and stress (Sarcevic et al., 2017). At home, that same principle brings peace: fewer surprises, smoother mornings, and a calmer mind.

What’s hiding in your drawer right now that could bring you peace if you pulled it out again?

We created this Daylight Savings Communication Reset for our members inside the LIFE Aphasia Collective®—a private care partner community where you learn the steps to build a life beyond aphasia. You can read more and download your free reset guide below.

• Morrison, A. B., & Richmond, L. L. (2020). Cognitive offloading and working memory capacity. SpringerOpen.

• Risko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. (2016). Cognitive offloading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

• Sarcevic, A., et al. (2017). Checklists as memory externalization in medical teams. PMC.