This is a hard one, because I can only talk about the things I have realized, and I'm sure I still have blind spots. And I also have to weigh what I thought as a kid with what was probably reality.
My impression of childhood was that we were poor. The things that I remember were running the calculator at the grocery store to make sure we didn't exceed our food stamps, used shoes from the thrift store, and my mom choosing the "practical" used bike instead of the cool one I wanted. But in reality, there were only a few years with food stamps; after that, she got her Ph.D and got a stable job and got remarried. But I still heard "we can't afford it." She was just anti-consumerist.
Meanwhile, my dad had the opposite lifestyle -- engineer, remarried a country-club-society woman, and spent every penny he earned maintaining that lifestyle. So it was a very split-personality life, going to Christmas at my dad's and seeing my half-brothers with a giant pile of toys, but only a few for me; me struggling to earn scholarships and working at the deli to earn money to pay for school, while my brothers got free rides. In reality, I learned later on that it was my stepmom who was insistent on the best for "her" boys, and my dad was trying to look out for me as best he could (e.g., lying to her about having to keep paying child support). But at the time, there was a lot of hurt and feelings of unworthiness and not mattering. [I do tend to complain a lot that DH is a spendypants, and he is, but he has also helped me learn that wanting a cool toy doesn't make me a bad person, and that spending on something frivolous is purely a financial choice, not a referendum on my worthiness to own such a thing].
So I ended up with very mixed views of money. Basically, I grew up wanting all the stuff my brothers had, as proof that I was just as important as they were; but then I also felt guilty for wanting that stuff, because it was all plastic consumerist bullshit that my mom scorned. I was absolutely determined never to be poor again (cue Scarlett O'Hara) and so pursued a career with good money potential, and socked a bunch of it away. But it was out of fear more than anything, and sometimes I wonder what other options and paths I missed when I had my head down solely focused on the safe path to keep me from being poor.
And then, when I finally realized I had enough money that I wouldn't ever be poor, I was at a loss. I mean, that drove me for 30 years -- now what? What do you do when that driver goes away? Who am I? Still working on that one. But I have loosened the purse strings on a few things, like a month-long vacation a few years ago, and a stupid car that I adore. It actually took a lot emotionally for me to do that, but in the end I don't regret either. And yes, I realize the irony of "it's awesome, I blew money on unnecessary stuff, and it was fun" on this board. But I think being frugal because you are constrained by fear and unworthiness is just as unhealthy as unthinking consumerism. The reality is that I learned to save but never learned to spend appropriately, because all spending beyond the most basic was a character flaw. And that served me well -- we have saved a lot, and we are now FI and could quit whenever we wanted to. But now it's time for me to learn to use those resources appropriately -- not driven by stupid impulsive consumerism, but also not driven by fear and shame.