What Did My Young Self Learn?

It seems obvious to say that our childhood shapes our whole life, but the impact is probably more profound than we ever realize. Our innocence makes us believe that anything is possible, and why should we not believe that? When we look around the world we see that almost everything we can imagine is being done by someone somewhere… well maybe not everything yet - our wild imaginations can certainly come up with some pretty out-there ideas!

But then life disrupts everything. Society, schooling, culture, family expectations, and the generational trauma that permeates down from our ancestors, all leave their mark. Parents, shaped by how they themselves grew up and the views of the world they were taught to accept, unknowingly pass these limitations down.

What did my young, innocent self learn?

She learned that fun was something you fit in if possible, but ultimately just a luxury that was not always available.

She learned that dreams were for other people, or maybe just for sleep. Life was not about discovering yourself, it was about becoming who you had to be. Wanting more than basic needs was seen as greedy and far outside the mediocre, ordinary life she was shaped to believe should be enough.

She learned that life was about being who others needed you to be, not who you truly were. She learned that people-pleasing was the safest way to make it through the day: determining what others expected you to do and say, and then doing and saying exactly that.
But she was young, and sometimes she found herself swept up in moments where she allowed herself to want something. It felt like a rare gift, a fleeting chance to simply be herself.

Other times she learned that doing what one person expected of her could completely conflict with what someone else required, and there was no clear way to navigate that. Or that in trying to do what you think others expect, you make mistakes that make things ten times worse.

As she grew older she learned to seek out people who needed something from her and poured all her energy into filling the voids in their lives, ignoring the truth that this slowly eroded her own presence.

And when people inevitably decided she was no longer necessary, she was pushed aside, left out, and left behind. She was confused, because she believed she had been doing everything right, yet she had simply become invisible.

Through reconnecting with her in healing, hypnosis and meditation, I am able to see her for who she truly was and who she should always have been.
She was a free spirit, playful and full of fun. She radiated love and compassion and simply wanted that love reflected back to her.

As the only person who has witnessed every struggle, every heartache, and every lesson with her and alongside her, I am uniquely qualified to tell her the truth. She deserved more. She deserved better.

I am the only one who can give her the love and support she needed then. I can show her that she is allowed to dream, that she is allowed to put herself first.
In fact, by putting herself first, she can help others far more deeply. Supporting people is not about pleasing them or being who they want you to be. It is about being who they genuinely need you to be.

Just like on an airplane when you are instructed to put on your own oxygen mask first, I can show her that by caring for herself first, she can offer true support to others in a way that truly matters.

And I can do that by living it for her.

If I am to be who she needs me to be, I must live the life she deserves. I have a responsibility to her above everyone else.
That responsibility is to dream.
To have fun.
To be playful.
To allow myself to live life through her eyes.

Because her eyes were innocent, honest, and hopeful. And she deserves that from me. And so does your inner child.

Each of us carries a younger version of ourselves within us, still hoping, still believing, still longing for the love, support, and permission to live fully.
 

You have the power to reconnect with your younger self, to build an unbreakable bond of trust and love. You are the one they have been waiting for, the one who can give them the safety to dream again, the freedom to play again, and the strength to live with joy and purpose.

By honoring the child you once were, you are not just healing the past, you are creating a legacy; the life your younger self has always deserved.
 

Live life for them. Love them through it. Let them lead you to the life you were always meant to live, together.