Advice to Stop Clinging to Childhood

Hey @moodyahhhhh

Nice to meet you, if I was in this position I would start by learning the art of "mindfulness" and start a "gratitude" journal.

The first will bring you into the present, the second will give you a reason to stay.

Once I had acquired those two skills then I would learn to meditate. That will bring the future to the present moment.

So my advise to you is be present. The past is unchangeable and non-reclaimable. The future is unknowable. The present is the only thing we have and know and can act on with certainty. The present is this moment, now it is this moment, now it is this one.

Even if we go to the same bend in the same river every day, we never touch the same river.

Good luck mate.

Those words "cling to childhood' sound like someone other than you said them, either someone who doesn't understand you or someone else's way of speaking in your mind and that can be unhelpful.

I reckon we gravitate mentally towards either things that harmed us and we are trying to go back over it to find the way out or stop it from happening, or things that felt safe or helped us.

Maybe framing this up like what is helpful about remembering this time in your life? What is comforting about that and how can you now move forward into today and bring that comfort with you or visit it without longing or without accidentally escaping the present by going back to a time you felt better. And brining that feeling of better into now.

I dunno, I'm just putting myself in your shoes and thinking about how it might be to bring that child-you-were into safety now, rather than escaping backwards to a time that cannot help in today.

I know I have certain movies, tv shows and books from when I was younger that I reread (sometimes repeatedly) when I am feeling fragile and that helps soothe me. But when I stop the activity I come back into the moment deliberately.

Does any of that fit for you?

Hi @moodyahhhhh , see the above post from @MoonGal 🙂