My explanation for owning more than 5 pillow pets
When I was younger, all I wanted to do was grow up. I couldn’t wait to drive and get out of my hometown. I’m sure this is a relatively universal experience; every young kid wants to have more independence and explore new places. However, now that I’m older, I wish I had spent more time enjoying my childhood rather than wishing for the future. While I have to say that adulting is quite fun (kitchen appliances is my new favorite gift), what keeps me balanced is giving recognition to my inner child.
There can be a lot of stigma over being seen as childish or engaging in childlike hobbies that pushes people towards trying to act as adult as they can. However, what does acting like an adult even mean? Many people believe it is the absence of anything childlike such as bright colors and stuffed animals, but I have always thought that being an adult means making the most well-informed and best decisions for yourselves and others. I believe that nurturing your inner child doesn’t mean you are immature, in fact, I think that time spent giving recognition to my younger self puts me in a position to act more maturely. By reflecting on the needs of both the adult and the child in me, I can make those decisions that are best for me. The balance of me right now and my younger self allows me to feel more prepared to face adulting.
Not only does recognizing my inner child make me feel more mature and prepared, but I also feel better connected to myself, my needs and my wants. By reflecting on my younger self, I am able to better understand how my childhood shaped me into the person that I am today and reflect on how my needs as an adult relate to my needs and if they were met as a child. Thinking back on childhood needs that weren’t met allows me to work on tackling negative habits that were caused by those needs that weren’t met. While I am much better at emotional regulation now, my childhood self wasn’t; understanding that and looking back at the choices I made without judgement has helped me move forward rather than getting caught up in the negativity.
Not only does recognizing my inner child make me feel more mature and prepared, but I also feel better connected to myself, my needs and my wants. By reflecting on my younger self, I am able to better understand how my childhood shaped me into the person that I am today and reflect on how my needs as an adult relate to my needs and if they were met as a child. Thinking back on childhood needs that weren’t met allows me to work on tackling negative habits that were caused by those needs that weren’t met. While I am much better at emotional regulation now, my childhood self wasn’t; understanding that and looking back at the choices I made without judgement has helped me move forward rather than getting caught up in the negativity.
What does recognizing and nurturing your inner child even mean though? While this looks different for everyone, I often find myself engaging in creative activities that I used to do when I was younger that I had stopped doing, such as crafting freely. Over the past year, I have made time to include more creativity in my life as it is something that I love but wouldn’t have made time to do otherwise. I also like to take time to reflect on both the positives and negatives of my childhood as they are critical to the person that I am today; this can be done through journaling, meditation, reflecting, etc. This reflection often allows me to understand I did the best that I could do as a young child which helps me to stop judging the choices that I made.
Not only do I feel more connected to myself in each different stage of my life, but I have a deeper understanding of how certain traits and habits have formed throughout my life. I would highly recommend to those reading this that you take some time to reflect on your childhood, both the good and the bad. This reflection can lead to more balance and better well-being in your life.