“I can’t wait to grow up and be a (_____________). Insert whatever resonates here!
That sentence is usually said with joy and hope by every kid at some point.
This way of thinking I’m about to share has helped me keep battling and not give up through some tough times. Hopefully you will relate to this and it can help you as well!
Picture yourself back when you were a happy kid or a teenager, whenever you were the most full of excitement and hope for life. (Obviously this doesn’t work if you had a traumatic childhood, but hopefully that isn’t the case for you.) Seriously though, stop reading this for a second and shut your eyes and actually picture that. Live in that moment for a minute or two, remember how that felt. You still have that inner child in you somewhere. I’m sure some people are more in touch with this then others. I think of this a ton, especially when I’ve been battling my, which seems like a never ending health battle with chronic illnesses. We all have our bad days and there are times I just feel so defeated. Times that make me want to just throw in the towel and stop battling and give in. This is when I’ll think of myself when I was growing up. I’ll think of how excited I was and all my dreams for my future. I can’t let that person down. How disappointed would that younger version of me be if he knew that I would catch a bad health break later in life and let it ruin me and play the victim card and stop pursuing my goals and dreams. He would be crushed! I can’t and I fucking won’t let that happy kid down.
Also, I need to share this story quickly because it drives home the point of really envisioning your inner child. This happened to me the other day while I was doing my daily meditation. Usually I clear my mind and anytime I think of something, I will clear it again but this time I stayed with what it showed me. I saw myself as a kid on my porch at my parents house, I was just walking around super happy playing. It felt so real that when my alarm I set for meditating went off I felt emotional. Even stranger when I searched something on my phone after, one of those ads you see recommended a book I loved as a kid and haven’t even thought about in ages.
Anyway back to my point. I strongly recommend remembering that happy inner child in you. There are a bunch of different strategies you can actually use to reconnect with yourself but for this post I’m just focusing on the concept of remembering that inner child. So if you’re struggling and can’t think of a reason why you should continue fighting, YOU ARE THAT REASON!! You don’t even need to wait for something bad to happen to you in life for this way of thinking to benefit you. Next time you’re going through your day, picture that happy kid in you and when you were excited and filled with hope. Tap into that now and live your best life! Hopefully anyone reading this gets some value out of this! Have the best week ever!!
Crush it!!
Justin
Justin! Thanks for this post- lots of useful takeaways! I used to want to be an ice cream man as a kid haha. I did your exercise of pausing and picturing a happy time from my childhood and it put a needed smile on my face. Helped with perspective picturing my inner child as well, i find that concept useful for personal growth! Thanks again for a great post!!
Appreciate the feedback a ton!!!! So pumped you got value from this!!!! LFG!!!!!