Childhood Feeling Like Your Childhood Was Taken Away From You?

[The Albatross]

I think we spend the first half of our life, childhood, suffering from one crisis to another, and then the second half of our life, adulthood, trying to deal with the consequences of our childhood.

Lord I f'ing hope not. That doesn't leave any room for a self actualized life (which is what I aspire/aim for).

 

[The Albatross]

I don't grok "stolen" You get what you get... all else is perceptual/hindsight bias.

 

[Cryptantha]

I can commiserate with this. My childhood was stolen by the abuse, and I am just now working through developing a self. It's hard work! I do get jealous of people who had more normal childhoods and have to remind myself that not all children are little adults.

 

[user27357]

I don't grok "stolen" You get what you get... all else is perceptual/hindsight bias.

It was systematic and scrypted. The cult that took my parents taught them how to break me down and bring me in too, just as efficiently as hard nosed marine corp drill sargeants break down and rebuild their new soldiers.

When someone sees what you have and want to take it away, thats theft. I had free will and not a care in the world and then I had no choice but to knuckle under the heavy hand of an oppressive and abusive cult of a religion or suffer physical and mental abuse beyond the level doled out as a normal day in the new regime. I found myself cherishing any part of the previous life I would now call my childhood. A pillowcase. Some socks. A book. Food I used to enjoy when I could afford to buy it myself.

It was theft. If I saw it happening to a child I knew I would step in, as an EMT I took an oath to report abuse and destroying a childs life as they knew it to be is theft, at least thats my perception/perceptional/hindsight bias.

You get what you get, I had what I had, they took away what they took, the cult won, I lost.

My childhood was stolen by a church that hoped to profit in the form of a knuckled under new member paying their weekly tithe forever and ever. I won that one, sorry church.

 

[UnKnown-Self]

I don't think I'm alone when I state this.

Whenever I look back at what has happened to me, all the a...

I used to feel that way. I realized while those years were stolen along with the childhood taking place at that time but the children survived inside of me. Most of the time they are scared and hiding but sometimes I can coax them out with coloring and a Disney movie. I realize it might sound silly but it feels right for me.

I realize I also have parts that I might not feel so positive about. For me, that's when the work begins. Learning self-compassion when you have PTSD is not for sissies. I always used to say, "No one kicks my ass better than I do myself." and it was true. Holding first place in kicking my ass was constant work since others strove to take my title. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Yep. I have my work cut out for me.