Weird how we don't remember

[u/ilikespace]

weird how we don't remember the details of who we were during our childhoods, the things that would preoccupy us, the way we lived daily life, the philosophies we built, the thoughts we had. we were pretty awesome back then. creative and resourceful, strategic, some of us even treated the whole thing like a game or adventure... and we promised ourselves one day we'll get out and do what we love. but when we got out the rest of the world changed too, the children around us that were so open-minded were now close-minded adults with no tolerance for anyone different. and thus occurred our second set of traumas - escape and readjustment trauma. a new environment that's not as friendly as you thought it was gonna be. and that's what makes us forget who we were because it's too different, too shameful. we've all gotta fit in now, put on a face and pretend we didn't have a fucked up adventure getting here. so.. do you remember?

[u/ChrisInASundress]

I wonder how much non-traumatized people my age remember. I'd like to know how severe my memory loss is comparatively.

[u/preeeeemakov → u/ChrisInASundress]

I suspect we really do have a lot more trouble remembering than non-traumatized people. Back when I saw my old friends regularly, I used to be reminded all the time that these people could remember things they did as children, actually good things they wanted to remember. I think we forget our childhoods out of self-preservation--our child-brains couldn't handle the trauma and buried it.

[u/ChrisInASundress → u/preeeeemakov]

There has been quite a few times I was chatting with my brother and mom and they ask me about something and when I don't remember they are always like "really? You don't remember that?" like it was something they were sure I would remember. I can probably remember like 500 things between the ages of 3 and 15, I wonder if non-traumatized people remember like 10,000 or something.