Childhood and its impact on your world view.

Childhood and its impact on your world view.

Were you born into a family and you are not even sure you like them?  Are you an adult and you have no idea how to have a relationship let alone maintain a friendship?  Can anyone relate? 

I grew up in country Victoria and we moved to the city when I was 13.  I remember entering city life wearing a flannelette shirt, seriously lol.  I had been so protected in my small town that I had not been exposed to ‘fashions’ or ‘trends.’  Our clothes had been purely for practical purposes and we had one ‘good’ outfit.  Entering the city was a brutal shock but I reflect now as an adult and I’m thankful for my country upbringing.  However, even now as a middle-aged woman I see glimpses of that young girl who was trying so hard to ‘fit in.’  As a young child I had no idea of self-acceptance and self-confidence.  Therefore, as an adult I struggled in that space until I did some inner work.  I’m sure we all have some work to do!  

Our childhood sets us up for our future whether we like it or not.  If we are not taught resilience and if we are not shown an example of strength, where do we learn these skills?  Some may look to friends or other adult figures; some may look to social media.  We learn from what is around us and for better or worse our first learning space is within the confines of our family. 

Learning from our past helps us understand the present.  Looking at our history and the history of our families also provides key insight into our coping strategies, resilience levels and our capacity for change.

Many ask why we need to go back?  Why we need to talk about our childhood?  I like to describe this period of reflection as the racetrack.  You see, without glimpsing the starting point the race to the finish line loses attraction and the finish line means nothing.  We only cheer for those that have completed the race when we have seen just how far they ran!  Without the starting point we have nothing. 

At Next Door Counselling we begin by looking at the starting point, we use Narrative Therapy to understand the journey and we put together the puzzle that awaits at the finish line.