Around the age of three or four years old, children begin to have their first memories. Memories in which usually last a lifetime. These instances can have an enormous effect on the child and the path they eventually take in life. I'll use a family member as an example. As a little girl, one of my relatives endured a great deal of physical and sexual abuse by another relative. It made her nervous, anxiety-ridden, and drastically altered her life. The memory haunted her so much throughout her childhood that she found herself constantly escaping her home to hang out with the wrong crowd. While she was barely even a teenager, she began to indulge herself in drugs and alcohol. I remember her telling me once that she hardly even enjoyed using these substances, she just participated so that she wouldn't feel unwanted and rejected by someone once again. .
The looming memory of her early childhood abuse was just the beginning however. By the time she was eighteen, she ended up with a deadbeat, abusive boyfriend who introduced her to even harder substances, such as cocaine and other drugs I'd rather not name. Her parents placed her in a rehabilitation center where she soon gained the strength to break up with this man. But upon doing so, he threatened both her and her family and was forced to move across the country alone. Because of these circumstances, she did not receive the proper education she deserved and struggled once again with drugs. All of these terrible experiences built up on top of one another and constantly lingered in the back of her mind, affecting almost every decision she made. Throughout her late 30's and early 40's she also struggled with a Vicodin addiction, in which she was once again placed in rehab. Now in her late 40's, she is usually able to stay strong and support herself emotionally but both the pain and the memories are still present. Sexual abuse, especially as a young, innocent youth, is one of the most traumatic events a human being can experience.