Integrating Your Inner Child

Do you remember being 9 years old imagining what life would be like as a “grown-up”? We had all these wild and unique dreams and hobbies. Some of us dreamed of living on islands, some of us enjoyed the simplicity of being outdoors, and others of us were knee-deep in reading books. As we grew up and began integrating into society and all that comes with it, we tend to lose that spark of our childhood. Between being indoctrinated into the school system, worrying about the pressures of life post-high school, and then being consumed with the thought of having to work to make money to live the rest of our lives, it’s no wonder that we lost touch with our hobbies and childhood dreams.

I recently had a revelation about the mid-life crisis that haunts all of us around the age of 27-31. For those into astrology, this phase of life is often referred to as our Saturn Return. Saturn Return is a time of our lives when the planet Saturn returns exactly back to the position it was in when we were born. The timing of this varies but occurs about every 28 years. Now if you are a twenty-something with thirty knocking at your door, you probably have noticed this internal shift within you.

This transition in our life can be really hard to explain and can even feel lonely or confusing but this time is meant for us to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going. You see, the planet Saturn is presented by rules, order, and structure. Sounds fun right? Not! While this time can be trying as we’re reflecting on who we’ve been for the last 27+ years of our lives, this is also a great time to reinvent ourselves and get clear about how we want to show up in the world.

For me, my Saturn Return has been SO many things. What can really make or break this time being fruitful is whether or not we decide to lean into and go with the flow of the shifts happenings vs fighting it. During my recent thirty-day fast, I spent time reflecting on how I wanted to show up in the world. A lot of this time of reflection made me realize that our late twenties is about integrating our forgotten inner child into our adult self. Yes; we’re all living breathing adults meaning we have responsibilities and bills but there’s a little 7-year-old or 16-year-old in you who has dreams and wishes long forgotten.

There’s no perfect way to integrate your inner child but here are a few steps to get you going.

Reflection

Do you have a list of goals you wrote as a child? I have a list of 100 things I want to do before I die that I wrote when I was 16 that I still have. I look back on the list from time to time and see what’s changed and what I can cross off the list.

Spend some time thinking about who you were as a child. What were you passionate about? What was your favorite song? What did you like doing just for fun? Sometimes we forget about the hobbies we had and I bet if you go back down memory lane, you’ll start asking yourself why you didn’t keep up with some of those hobbies.

Pick Up Old Hobbies

Speaking of hobbies. What’s something you did just for fun as a kid or teenager? Writing? Dancing? Drawing? Riding your bike? Remind yourself of the things you enjoyed doing and see if you can get back into some of these hobbies just for fun.

Go With The Flow

Just be present and say yes to new things. We all have schedules, deadlines, and priorities to handle, I get it. Part of the joy of our childhoods was that we didn’t have strict schedules. We had free time for play and to get into things that we were curious about. Make time once a week to leave your schedule open to go with the flow of the day, you’d be surprised where it may take you.

If you’ve ever watched 13 going on 30, you’ll understand how important it is to look back on who we were as children and teenagers and honor who we were. After all that curious, quirky, nerdy, artistry, ecclectic, outdoorsy, athletic child still lives in all of us, waiting to be acknowledged.