innerchild

Life has a way of moving in circles. No matter how far we think we’ve come, sometimes we find ourselves right back where we started — the same pain, the same mistakes, the same emptiness. It can feel exhausting, like we’re trapped in a cycle that will never end.

But often, what we’re really circling around is our inner child.

The inner child is that hidden part of us that remembers everything — the joy, the innocence, but also the wounds we never fully healed. It carries the weight of neglect, abandonment, rejection, or abuse. And until we turn inward and tend to that child, we find ourselves going in circles, repeating patterns without understanding why.

Maybe you’ve noticed it in relationships. You keep attracting the same kind of love, even if it hurts. Or maybe it shows up in addiction, where you go back to the same coping mechanism that promised escape but delivered only deeper pain. Sometimes, it’s in the way we treat ourselves — constantly criticizing, sabotaging, or hiding behind masks.

These circles are not random. They are calls for healing.

Our inner child keeps bringing us back to these familiar places, not to punish us, but to remind us of what still needs our attention. Each cycle is another chance to stop, to notice, and to finally break free. Healing doesn’t happen in a straight line; it spirals. Every time we come back to a painful pattern, we have the opportunity to face it with more wisdom, more awareness, and more compassion than before.

The truth is, we can’t shame our inner child into silence. We can’t numb it away forever. What it needs is what we needed back then — safety, love, patience, and someone to listen to us. And often, we are the ones who must finally become that safe person for ourselves.

So the next time you feel yourself stuck in a circle, ask:

What is my inner child trying to tell me?

What wound is asking to be healed?

How can I show up for myself differently this time?

Circles don’t always mean we’re failing. Sometimes they mean we’re still learning. And healing, even when it feels repetitive, is progress.

Step by step, round by round, we move closer to wholeness.

Because when we finally sit with that inner child, the circles that once trapped us can become circles of safety, circles of healing, circles of love.

Bigmommaj
#innerchild #MentalHealth

The tea is Egyptian licorice (by Yogi teas) and the tea tags say “This life is a gift” and “Love is the ultimate law of life.” Sometimes it’s the little things like the messages on the tea bags that help me get through a tough day. I’ve locked my room door and am pretending to have already gone to sleep in hopes that I don’t have to interact anymore with the monster of a man who is my biological father. Whenever he gets back from whatever he did today—honestly, I don’t care. I just don’t want to see his face or talk to him more than I already had to. So I’m retiring in early for the night. The photos in this photo are some favorite pictures of me when I was a baby and 2.5 years old… it’s like my little altar of self love to my inner child on the table bedside my bed. It’s just something I did to help me stay positive. #tea #Selfcare #Selflove #innerchild #PTSDSupportAndRecovery

#PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #triggers #CPTSD #innerchild #Selflove #Selfcompassion #selfforgiveness #curiosity #Innercritic

Early January, I posted anonymously on Reddit that I was so overwhelmed with my depression that I could no longer find joy in my usual activities. One month later, my mood has experienced a complete 180. The thing that got me from one point to the other was Bear in the Big Blue House.

I started off 2023 feeling totally defeated. My efforts to find a new job were going nowhere, money was hard to hold on to, and the guy I was dating called things off to focus on a pressing personal issue. I was absolutely miserable.

I tried passing the time with the one thing that I usually looked forward to: watching TV. Unfortunately, Wednesday, Lucifer, and all my other favourite characters were no longer comforting me the way they usually did.

I spent a lot of days trying to do work, desperately job hunting, and quietly sobbing in my room. I was in a lot of pain and desperate to find something that could help me move past it.

Then I remembered some TikToks I’d seen of a familiar Bear wishing everyone a Merry Christmas alongside his human counterpart, Noel MacNeal. Didn’t they announce Bear in the Big Blue House was added to Disney Plus back in October?

Inner child healing was a concept I was very familiar with, but hadn’t actually explored. And I’m definitely not the first adult to admit to watching a kid’s show for nostalgia and comfort. So my 28 year-old self opened Disney Plus and found the show trending on the home screen.

I binged watched the whole show in less than a month. I watched an episode at dinner, an episode to fall asleep, and even episodes during the day when my depression and anxiety were at their peak. I found so much comfort in these familiar characters, the soft voices, the fun songs, Bear sniffing the camera. It felt like the reunion I didn’t know I needed.

I started to feel better a little each day, and life started to get better too. I found a new job I’m really excited about, and my family is helping me get back on track in life.

I can’t say for sure that Bear is 100% the reason my life improved in a month’s time, but I’m sure glad I had him to comfort me when things started to feel too hard. I don’t think we should take the things that gave us joy as kids for granted.

Have you ever relied on a blast from the past to get you through a difficult time? “What do you think?”

#innerchild #tvshows #Depression #Selfcare