Are things ever finished in life?

I have had the recent experience of remembering and feeling my past. Some of the horrible things I did, people I hurt, even some things I never remembered before I am becoming more aware of. I thought after all my years of therapy and meetings and talking with friends and really confronting these issues that I had found some kind of peace with them. Now that I am learning the other side of substance abuse in the actual treatment from a counselors role I am feeling and remembering what it was like for me to go to counseling and deal with some really tough stuff. As happy as I am today and completely different than I was then, this stuff still shakes me probably more now because I am shocked that I did those things. It's important to remember of course, but the playback and talking about it with people who havent had those issues who I want to be my colleagues and classmates is very uncomfortable. Being a drug addict alcoholic is a huge part of me, it is one of my defining life characteristics and I wouldnt be who I am without it so I am not ashamed to have done what I have done in that sense of how it relates to my journey, but I am not that person anymore in many ways as well so it is unnerving to relate to myself in that sense. I have been struggling with these feelings that came out of nowhere that I cannot always identify. I feel everything now to the point that I get choked up at sappy movies and even tv shows, I feel everything so much more than I ever did. When I am down I am really down and up really up, feelings are very intense and because I spend alot of time in my mind trying to identify the feeling the feeling gets confused into thought which is an uncomfortable place to be. In my daily life I dont say hey, I am a person in recovery, I feel I will gain two responses, one being the general stigma that goes with being a drug addict and the other of wow you are a strong person, both of which make me uncomfortable in a setting where people do not know me. That part of my life is very personal and alot of the things I did I am not proud of at all. Last night I told some class mates that I was indeed an addict alcoholic and I felt the pain of that part of my life and the rest of the night I havent felt really good about myself. I feel very different and alone in trying to balance helping myself and helping other people at the same time when I can relate to it all. Maybe now is the time for me to feel those feelings again and remember again so I can relate to a greater extent to the people I am trying to help or maybe this is just to further my recovery because these feelings are still there as much as when I live my daily life up until a week or two ago I dont think about them. Time will tell. It feels like nothing is ever finished when dealing with emotions because they shape character, coping, thinking, feeling, defensiveness, and sensitivity. There is acceptance and forgiveness but somethings are hard to forget. Just whats on my mind today, hope I didnt disturb anyone.....