Asklemmy

43755 readers

2276 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

140

Have any of you been able to reconnect with your inner child? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

60 comments fedilink hide all child comments

On the journey to becoming a productive member of society I had to compartmentalize my inner child.

During my early schoolboy years, he waited patiently for the school day to finish so that he could finally resume his creative and playful pursuits.

As the education became more involved, he had to wait a little longer because of homework.

In university, the complicated assignments, group projects, and late night study sessions meant that he would often not get to let loose until the weekend.

The full-time job, commute, technical projects, work politics, and other adult responsibilities really did the biggest number on him though. Sometimes he would go without playing for weeks, or months at a time.

Today it's as if my adult mask has adhered permanently to my face and I can no longer access him at all.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I don't really have an inner child. My childhood sucked. I have nightmares about feeling angry and scared and trapped like I did as a child. My adulthood just keeps getting better. I'm learning to enjoy life and the world for the first time, and I'm a more productive member of society for it. What you describe is totally alien to me.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It's also an important trauma processing technique. If you had a shitty childhood like us, it's called reparenting instead.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Similar. Riding on rollercoasters, watching wholesome cartoons, and reading good fiction don't feel childish to me, they just feel like well-deserved fun. Why associate that with childhood, when childhood lacked freedom?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

You could totally work with your inner child on that basis. Obviously don't have to. But just imagining this little version of you and the hardship they had to endure, thinking about what they would have needed from an adult, and imagining yourself being that adult for your imaginative younger self - that would be very much in line with the idea of the technique.