Ask Lemmy

I suffered a serious head injury and have amnesia. I don’t remember the vast majority of my childhood and what I do is just bits and pieces. By the time I had fully recovered from the injury, I was totally used to just not remembering things. In hindsight and therapy, there are a few things about my memory loss that bother me.

Overall though I’ve just accepted that remembering just isn’t all that important. You are who you are today. Memories may explain why you are the way you are or they might not. I just try to live the present and work towards the future. It’s freeing to live without the grudges, spite, or resentment of the past.

No. Forgetting is a normal human process. Even displacement can be necessary and healthy.

Also don't look for ways to blame yourself for being a human being.

No.. i don't remember the vast majority of my life, neither does anyone else.

No. I'd suggest seeking professional help.

I did, but that was because a head injury deleted my entire childhood and most of my vocabulary. Without it I realized I didn't really know why I was the way I was but I knew I didn't like it.

I've since regained most of it through first hand account and journals that I don't recall writing but were in my hand. However, there are a lot if accounts that differ between journals and testimonies. Coupled with a good deal of paranoia in the writing, I believe a few of my journals were false narratives to throw off snooping. So I'm still not entirely convinced of my own past.

Ultimately, I decided to embrace it. I can be who I want to be and what I was ain't it.

No, although as a child I told myself to remember how this part of my life felt like since many adults really don't seem to remember it at all and raise their kids in ways that they themselves would not have liked to be raised in, mostly passing on traumas that they got from their parents.

However nowadays I can understand why that is. After you become an adult there is just so much more stuff you have to deal with that you kind of have to forget a lot from your younger years.

No; although, the childhood memories I didn't remember are from when I was sexually assaulted as a child and about a year afterward.

I suspect many people in this thread also have trauma they don't want to talk about, which is fair. Talking about these things, even in a pseudo-anonymous capacity, can leave one vulnerable to trolls and other insensitive people. This is where talking with a therapist can really help as there is reduced risk of someone using your trauma to cause further harm.

bro what the heck is your profile

No.

Remembering every excruciating detail of childhood would probably be quite traumatic.

I remember snippets and feelings from being a child/teenager.

No? I didn't have a bad childhood, and I'm sure there's lots of memories that were made, but they're long gone. We grow, learn, and evolve. Memories mold us into who we are now, and while it's good to have important memories documented for recollection (such as keeping a journal), the majority of life is mundane or repeating tasks so those memories are 'overwritten' (so to speak) with more recent and relevant memories.

It's generally strong emotional moments that we remember best. Lots of people in the comments talking about remembering their trauma. I vividly remember my spankings, and my brother dragging my arm across a car window edge, and other bad things.

But I also remember the good times. Going on vacations, spending time with extended family, hobbies I enjoyed as a kid.

Comparing the amount of memories I have from being a kid to now though, my childhood memories are just a distant thought at this point.

Nah. I have an identity crisis for totally different reasons beyond my control due to mental illness that currently has no treatment.

I remember very little of childhood and teenage years ... so I'm kinda used to it.

No. If anything, my crisis are because of what I do remember. And thankfully childhood memories are never a problem.

No, I learnt to not trust human memory early on so I don't feel that attached to my memories.

No