Thinking About the Things and Experiences That Shape Our Lives

It would be easy to just say that our lives are shaped by a myriad different experiences we have - and to some extent that might be true - but there are often certain events that stay with us for the duration of our days on this planet... and they can end up informing almost everything we do, regardless of whether we're consciously aware of it or not.

Many of these things take the form of trauma of some kind, inflicted on us by parents, siblings, schoolmates and even our environment.

For the record, trauma isn't necessarily the same thing as abuse, even though many people use those words like they were interchangeable. They are not. Lots of folks are traumatized without having suffered any kind of abuse.

Of course, the whole thing can be rather difficult to explain because what traumatizes one person may not make any difference to the next person who comes along.

Aside from being an introvert, much of my tendency to keep to myself was undoubtedly shaped by the fact that I had very few opportunities to connect with other kids as a child. We moved around a lot and it was always to very "adult" places, so I was largely socialized by adults rather than by others my age.

But I was never really troubled by having to entertain myself most of the time. Books were my friends... and the situation definitely shaped me... but also made me come across as rather strange during my early adulthood. For example, when I was at University I generally got along better with the faculty than with other students.

That might also have been exacerbated by the fact that I was often bullied during my school years, so I sought the company of adults, instead.

Another shaping influence was noise. To this day I have a great aversion to loud noise, particularly of the mechanical kind. I am pretty sure it developed during infancy because I grew up in a house that was - quite literally- being built around me. There we always saws and drills and sanders going... my parents were building their own house. Exciting, perhaps, but very noisy.

I have been reminded in recent months because the house across the street is being renovated and the noise is driving me nuts and I just want to get away from it!

But such is life, I suppose...

Thanks for stopping by and have a great remainder of your week!

How about you? Was your life shaped by particular events in childhood? Do you recognize them, years later? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2023.10.05 01:45 PDT
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