To have thought this was normal?

[BadMed]

I sometimes get intense memories of childhood to the point where I can smell everything and feel everything - I actually feel like I’m there and it makes me feel a bit disoriented and nauseous.

I also get the same memories of things that never actually happened … one is me in an old dark cold cottage and I’m depressed, looks like the moors or somewhere. I smell the damp wood outside and the coal in the fire but I feel the depression.

Anyway I thought all this was pretty normal, a mixture of intense memories and a strong imagination but I mentioned it today to a group of friends and everyone acted like I was crazy. One suggested the cottage thing is a past life memory and everyone was really freaked out.

AIBU to have thought all this was normal? Is it just that people don’t talk about it or is it very abnormal??

I'm like this too! I remember specific events that my mum says I can't as I was too young (like under 2) but they're very real to me. Not a whole scene but I clip.

Same with smells, and a certain smell can also trigger an intense memory

Have you ever been to an old cottage on the moors or even used a coal fire?
More likely to be a lucid dream after watching a TV show/movie surely?

I was going to suggest a dream for the cottage as well

I would suspect the cottage may be a dream or a film. I've got a couple of "memories" that have got mixed up with film.

But I've got a good memory for past events. I can remember a couple at under 2yo, and quite a lot from 3yo. They're events that I can date due to place/people etc otherwise I'd have assumed I was older because of how well I can remember them. It's not that the events have been talked about, or anything like that. I occasionally floor dm by saying "oh yes, and when we went there they (eg) had green flowers on the door mat" and she'll look at me and say "but you were only 2yo, who told you that?"

Memories can get mixed up. I had a strange one on a book. I asked if people here knew the name of a book I remembered my teacher reading to the class when I was 8yo. I remembered the basic plot and I remembered a specific scene word for word.
People here suggested two possible books. So I bought them both.
The basic plot was one book (that was the one the teacher read), and the scene was the other book. I have no recollection of reading the second book to myself, but they were thoroughly mixed up in my mind.

My memories are very much linked to smells so I hear you!