Child photo: Anthony Kelly
So closeting your inner Kid perpetuates the worst curse, that feeling of being a kid trapped in an adult body.
Why is that?
Because it’s abusive.
Abusing the Kid inside has the same effect abuse has on a real kid.
Stop a moment. Think of a child you know personally. Imagine that child’s face, and voice, and how it moves, and the emotional energy it emits.
How would that real kid react to being locked in a real closet?
How would it affect him/her to being ignored day after day? Or being told over and over Shut up, or Go away, or You’re being silly, or I don’t care what you want, or Your feelings don’t matter?
How would you feel if you heard an adult saying those things to a real child?
Inner child abuse teaches part of you — arguably, an indispensible part — to feel unvalued, unheard, unloved and unloveable.
It is a source of perpetual pain.
And if part of you is in perpetual pain, how can the rest of you feel much better?
Part 4 of a series on monkeytraps and adult children.
Read part 1 here.
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