How to Love Yourself: Start by Loving Your Inner Child

Be the Mom and Dad You Wish You Could Have Had

So many of us grow up craving the kind of love, safety, or validation we didn’t always receive as children. Maybe you had parents who did their best but couldn’t meet your emotional needs. Maybe you had to grow up too fast. Maybe no one ever taught you how to feel safe inside your own skin.

Whatever your story is, healing begins with this truth: You can’t truly love yourself without loving your inner child.

That little version of you—wide-eyed, scared, curious, longing to be held and seen—is still alive within you. Learning how to love them is the most powerful act of self-love you’ll ever practice.

A few tools:

1. Recognize That Your Inner Child Exists

2. Be the Parent You Needed

3. Stop Abandoning Yourself

4. Create Joy and Play

5. Talk to Yourself Differently

6. Give Yourself What You Never Got

Loving Yourself Isn’t a Destination—It’s a Relationship

It’s not about perfection. It’s about presence.

You don’t have to “fix” yourself to be worthy. You don’t have to hustle for love.
You just have to return, every day, to that little inner child and whisper:
"I see you. I’ve got you. I love you. And I always will."

That’s where healing begins.
That’s where true self-love lives.

You are not too much. You are not too late. You are exactly what you needed.
Be that parent.
Be that love.
Be that home.

You always deserved it.
And now, you can give it.

With love,
Marine Sélénée