ozm8ey

Does anyone else ever think about how it was like when they were a kid and how they used to be happy, full of energy and not even thinking about alcohol, drugs or cigs? how we were so happy for no reason. idk why but i think about this like every day

Nonsensical

I thought about that a lot when I was early in sobriety. I tried to remember what I was doing back then.

My addiction told me not to bother trying to do any of that stuff I was doing back then. It wasn't going to be possible to have fun without alcohol.

Turns out my addiction is a liar and those things are still fun.

BrendaChenowyth

Excited about little things and stressed about nothing? Yup.

PhoenixJ

My childhood was a contiburing factor to drinking. My parents main life skills was in the event of ANY trouble- run, isolate, hide then hope for rescue. My dad was and alcie too. I though irrelevant- but LOTS of health peoples (pycholo,istrist,addict counsel..etc) told me it is true. Not what your thread was- I think, but it helps to write stuff out. So thanks.

NoahJ

Dear God this thread made me sad about my mortgage.

Otherwise I'd go home, and run through the sprinkler naked eating ice cream.

least

I was blessed to have a happy childhood. Now that I'm sober, I feel a lot like I did as a child - happy and content. When I was drinking, I felt horrible all the time and nothing made me happy. I'm glad those days are gone.

SummerBee

I was a teenager in the 70's and love anything to do with that era, although other people hate it. Its all a matter of perspective and what makes you happy and comfortable. My life has not been very happy since my teen years (my daughter not included in that statement) and so I look back fondly. Also I DIDNT DRINK THEN !!
Maybe that says it all, four little words.........such a huge sentence.
SB. X

ScottFromWI

My addiction started when I was still a child unfortunately, but yes - I get what you mean.

The honest to goodness truth though is that getting sober can actually give you back some of that joy and happiness you had in the carefree days. Mostly because once you aren't a slave to alcohol anymore you can spend your time on things that matter.

PippoRossi

I totally get where you are coming from. For me, lately I've been thinking that I was a pretty cool kid and I'd like to get back to being interested in joyful things, again, like I was when I was younger. It's nice to hear I'm not the only one in that boat.

AnvilheadII

raised by a single alcoholic mother in an extended family of alcoholics and drinking, doing drugs and having sex by the age 14. no, not a place i want to relive, thanks.

SummerBee

Aaahhh Anvil, so sad that you have no happy memories of life gone by 😞. Making new memories for you and yours seems the way to go ???
SB x

Ringo123

I probably was that happy, carefree kid up to about age ten when inappropriate touching started. Scared to come home after school unless mom was home. Then later, add food and alcohol addiction and everything that comes with it. It was sad cuz at the age 16 I really didn't think I'd live to see 18.

Fear, guilt and shame ran my life until I experienced the freedom of having done all 12 steps--it took more than once going through them. And some therapy.

Happy to report that at almost 60 years of age, I'm living a life beyond my wildest imagination.

You can too!

Change4good

I have had that EXACT thought when I see my kids. When I was drinking, I remember watching them wake up, fresh, excited about the day, running around without any thought of the perils of drinking.

Meanwhile, it seemed every waking thought for me was about drinking, and trying to stop, or struggling through withdrawals.

While I find joy in their joy, I am scared to death of them becoming addicts. It runs in my family, and my husband's.

zerothehero

Oddly enough, I'm feeling more like a boy than I have in decades. Open, receptive, vulnerable. I used to look back on my childhood and think it was happy-go-lucky, but in retrospect I was like a lizard, prone to hypervigilance and hyperarousal. My world was unpredictable and I was scared but didn't want to admit it to myself much less anybody else. So I was the clown. Anything to distract from the sense of dread rooted in my father's temper and the back of his hand. When I discovered alcohol and weed it was like I'd been given the magic formula to survive. It worked until it didn't...

D122y

Ozm,

I have been a drunk since 5 years old. I used to drink as much as I wanted.

My Dad let me drink as long as we were camping.

For some reason, probably God, lack of money, and my crowd, I never gravitated towards the haRd drugs. Just booze.

I know I am weird.

Thanks.

thomas11

This is a good topic, yet I suspected that there may be some folks here whose childhood may have been less than ideal. I think their is ample evidence that sometimes our upbringing leads us into addiction. With that said, I had the picture perfect childhood. I was happy and full of energy because I was safe and loved doing the things kids do. Football in the front yard, making forts, playing army, hunting and fishing, BMX and riding snowmobiles. What's not to like?

Fly N Buy

I consider my youth to have been pretty carefree - then it got worse around 13 years old. That is when I really started to feel uncomfortable and sought solutions - drink n smoke.

I don't hold resentments against my parents - I have processed those; but they were indeed both alcoholics. This meant isolation and everyone doing their own thing. I could never understand how my parents (at times) could be so mad at night only to wake up as if nothing happened. All was once again swept under the rug. This only became painful in sobriety as I examined it. I have a lot of gratitude for being shown how to deal with all this ick today.

Alcoholism takes hostages - I was one and took others. All have been released without paying anymore ransom. The cycle has been broken, hopefully.

I appreciate your thread - thanks

Mizzuno

You can get back to the carefree. I can get to the carefree. These things are possible.

I recently purchased (and today it was delivered) a Unicorn toy that sneezes rainbow balls out of its nose. You hold it upright and squeeze its center. Out shoots a rainbow ball from its nose........ I would have loved the Unicorn as a kid. So, Im going to sell it to our customers and watch all the excitement. There is a tester Unicorn for my enjoyment.

LilDeb007

I had lots of house parents as a kid. Most were helpful so I remember the good times.

Cleopatra4

Oh my gosh. Are you me? This is word for word my life. So weird. But for real, the intense guild/worry/dread/anxiety about my kids being addicts. How do we prevent it when the disease is so laced in our bloodlines? Both sides