We often equate adulthood with certain ages or responsibilities, but true maturity is not about age. Even those with wisdom and experience frequently act from their inner child. Not because we are weak, not because we have failed, but because that child learned to drive the car long before the adult self ever woke up, and now it is time to meet the one inside you who was destined to drive.
Think back to childhood for a moment on the adults in your world, whether good, bad, flawed, heroic, or somewhere in between, who made all the decisions. They provided the structure, held the power, fed you, sheltered you, and directed the course of your days. To a child’s eyes, adults were omniscient, infallible, unshakeable.
That archetype still lives inside you.
Your Adult Self is the inner presence that is:
- Steady in thought
- Clear decision
- Responsible in action,
- Grounded, rooted, and sovereign.
- Willing to take risks.
- Courageous even when afraid
- Nurturing, kind, and empowered.
- Capable of facing life without collapsing into fear or fantasy.
This is the part of you who shows up at work on time, keeps the kids fed, remembers the appointments, cooks the meals, honors commitments, sets boundaries, and manages the world with quiet competence. When your Adult is running the show, your life feels like it has a spine.
This is where the truth gets sharp but liberating.
Your Adult Self is never the part of you that:
- Throws a tantrum when things do not go your way.
- Gossip or tears others down,
- chases drama, or stirs it up.
- Falls into fight-or-flight.
- Spends compulsively.
- Overeating to soothe.
- Shames you
- Judges you or anyone else
- Feel lost, small, or left out.
- Gets jealous.
- Freezes in fear.
- Doubts about their worth
- Fears success and self-sabotages.
Those are emotional reactions and survival strategies, the echoes of the child who learned to cope with overwhelming realities.
The Adult knows drama wastes time, energy, and life force. The Adult recognizes when someone else is acting from their wounded child and refuses to climb into the sandbox with them. The Adult knows how to hold space without absorbing anyone’s storm.
They listen, witness, and stay anchored, not offended, not reactive, not entangled.
The Adult knows who they are.
The Relationship Between the Adult and the Inner Child
Your Adult Self is the one your inner child should have had from the beginning:
- To protect.
- To listen.
- To validate.
- To comfort.
- The one who chooses wisely.
- The one who knows what to do next.
The Adult does not react; they respond.
Their thoughts are intentional.
Their actions are deliberate.
Their presence is safe.
This inner Adult becomes the true home your childhood self never had, and when that relationship reconnects, everything in your healing shifts, because the child no longer must run the entire world alone. You are not becoming something new. You are remembering a part of yourself that has always been there, waiting to rise. This is the moment the child inside you finally gets to exhale, because the Adult has arrived.
All the Love
Add comment
Comments