Never To Late To Have A Happy Childhood

[Guest DaddyShenanigan]

Hey all you wonderful people!

I just wanted to say that no matter where we have been or what has happened, it is never to late to have a happy childhood!

I have been so impressed with all the things all of you are doing with your lives, the things you have overcome and that you survive and THRIVE 

Challenges and difficult experiences will continue to come up for each of us on our journey in life

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.-Viktor Frankl

Not one of us can change what has happened to us. So we are challenged to find and become our best selves. And that is what I see so many of you doing...growing, changing and having happy childhoods 😊

 

 

[redruffle41]

Ooh, I like viktor frankl

[Sunshin3]

On 5/8/2025 at 7:29 AM, Guest DaddyShenanigan said:

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.-Viktor Frankl

Whoever you are, Viktor Frankl, you're onto something and I like it hehehe (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

 

Love the way how you wrote all of this, especially this one: 

On 5/8/2025 at 7:29 AM, Guest DaddyShenanigan said:

Not one of us can change what has happened to us. So we are challenged to find and become our best selves.

Because it reminded me of something I've believed in back then because I fixate a lot on my past mistakes and what ifs. Something along the line of: stop fixating on what you could of change and instead, you let it change you. 

I hold this belief deep in my heart. It makes processing regret more easier hehe

[RoseyLittle]

Love this! 💕 And could fan girl about this post AND Victor Frankl, I often recommend his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’. His voice, like this beautiful post, is a reminder that  we make meaning in life in multiple ways: through experiential pieces (experiencing connections and encounters with things like love and beauty) creativity (what our hands and minds do, work and deeds) and yes, even in suffering - especially when we can hold that even in the worst moments, the ones it feels like we have no power or control over, we have choice. The choice of how we feel. 
 

As a survivor of concentration camps, he talks about having everything stripped from him, everything lost. His wife, his community, his belongings, his hair, his dignity, even his name. But he also recognized that what couldn’t be taken was what he felt on the inside. That even amongst horror he could look up to sky and just take a moment to appreciate beautiful sunset. He also found the ones who survived in the camps were the ones who practiced this.
 

In my work, I often tell people the most unfair aspect of trauma is the way we become responsible for something we were never responsible for to begin with. We had choice taken or violated. We did not have control over what happened to us. But when living with the afterwards we do become responsible for it. We have to become responsible for healing, for surviving, for growth. It’s both wildly unfair and true all at the same time. Like most existential things *laughs*

Okay enough rambly thoughts for the morning, time to go to work. So here’s a giant *fist bump* ‘you got this’ to every single person in this group who are beautifully and imperfectly surviving and healing. ❤️‍🩹 

[MyMy]

On 9/30/2025 at 8:56 AM, RoseyLittle said:

Love this! 💕 And could fan girl about this post AND Victor Frankl, I often recommend his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’. His voice, like this beautiful post, is a reminder that  we make meaning in life in multiple ways: through experiential pieces (experiencing connections and encounters with things like love and beauty) creativity (what our hands and minds do, work and deeds) and yes, even in suffering - especially when we can hold that even in the worst moments, the ones it feels like we have no power or control over, we have choice. The choice of how we feel. 
 

As a survivor of concentration camps, he talks about having everything stripped from him, everything lost. His wife, his community, his belongings, his hair, his dignity, even his name. But he also recognized that what couldn’t be taken was what he felt on the inside. That even amongst horror he could look up to sky and just take a moment to appreciate beautiful sunset. He also found the ones who survived in the camps were the ones who practiced this.
 

In my work, I often tell people the most unfair aspect of trauma is the way we become responsible for something we were never responsible for to begin with. We had choice taken or violated. We did not have control over what happened to us. But when living with the afterwards we do become responsible for it. We have to become responsible for healing, for surviving, for growth. It’s both wildly unfair and true all at the same time. Like most existential things *laughs*

Okay enough rambly thoughts for the morning, time to go to work. So here’s a giant *fist bump* ‘you got this’ to every single person in this group who are beautifully and imperfectly surviving and healing. ❤️‍🩹 

This was beautifully put. I haven’t read Viktor Frankl’s book yet, but I’ll definitely be picking it up. During my own healing, I had a moment where I was deeply triggered, screaming about how unfair it all was, how others seemed light years ahead simply because they hadn’t gone through what I had.After a while, I realized: yes, this happened. Yes, it’s absolutely not fair. But then I asked myself, “What am I going to do about it?”That question shifted everything. I decided I want my story to say: this happened, and I still lived the best life; this happened, and I still became successful, this happened, and I’m still here, alive and being.That realization has brought me so much comfort, hope, and self-love throughout my journey.

[RoseyLittle]

On 10/6/2025 at 9:01 PM, MyMy said:

 

This was beautifully put. I haven’t read Viktor Frankl’s book yet, but I’ll definitely be picking it up. During my own healing, I had a moment where I was deeply triggered, screaming about how unfair it all was, how others seemed light years ahead simply because they hadn’t gone through what I had.After a while, I realized: yes, this happened. Yes, it’s absolutely not fair. But then I asked myself, “What am I going to do about it?”That question shifted everything. I decided I want my story to say: this happened, and I still lived the best life; this happened, and I still became successful, this happened, and I’m still here, alive and being.That realization has brought me so much comfort, hope, and self-love throughout my journey.

Thank you for sharing such a deeply vulnerable and healing moment. I sometimes think the hard work of healing is holding dualities. Two truths at once. You did that so courageously. What happened is both deeply unfair and we can grieve AND hold space for what are we going to do now. I deeply resonated with what you wrote. 
 

Survivors (especially from anything in childhood) have a really tough job. They often have to heal from incredibly painful things, while having to muddle through adult life, and relearn things they never had the safety or space to learn that others did in childhood. All at the same darn time! When just staying alive is often a fight. 
 

No matter what kind of trauma interrupts your life, survivors often feel like we started the race way behind the start line in comparison to others. Or that we got interrupted and put on the sidelines for a while. Or that our car will always run a little slow. *laughs* And it can even mean we hit stages later than those around us. We totally get to feel how unfair it is. And grieve it all. 
 

But darn tooting we can also tackle it and live our best life whatever that looks like! For me, in my hardest moments, I would connect to the deep truth that I wasn’t back there anymore. That no hard day, no hard moment or obstacle was ever as bad as what I already survived years of. The pain of my childhood (with healing work) is part of what allows me to feel joy and gratitude in every single day. 
 

I hear that in what you wrote. Just the joy and hope that you are still alive and here and loving yourself ♥️