We will forget much of the pandemic. That's a good thing.

AS we approach another anniversary of the pandemic's onset, many of us are reflecting on the past 2 years and thinking about the ways the virus has altered our lives. More than 950,000 Americans have died. Many more have lost a loved one, and millions are still grappling with the lingering aftereffects of infection.

As we begin to move toward a postpandemic future, it is vital that we remember the toll this virus has taken. The lessons of this pandemic should be carried with us so that - unlike what happened after the 1918 flu - it doesn't fade from history, and so we can honour and memorialise those we have lost.

It is also inevitable that over time, many of our memories of these difficult years will fade. As a neuroscientist who studies memory and memory disorders like Alzheimer's, I find this fact - perhaps counterintuitively - comforting. I have come to understand, through new research, that there is a danger in remembering too much and that forgetting is not only normal but in fact necessary for our mental health.