TikTok has taught us everything from how to keep spiders at bay to manifestation methods and most recently, you may well have come across the wholesome trend of ‘inner child work’ and #innerchildhealing – which has over 678 million views.
The videos show users caught in a moment of being mean to themselves, followed by a sweet reminder to be kind to their former child selves. Typical captions include ‘when I’m being mean to myself I remember that I’m being mean to them’ and the videos show both the user in a present-day moment, before a picture from their childhood appears on-screen.
One fan of the trend is Kendall Jenner, who confirms the viral videos have helped her practice self-love and compassion during her lower moments. The model, 26, sat down with Jay Shetty for his podcast, On Purpose, where she spoke candidly about how she finds kindness via looking after her inner child.
She says, “I do a lot of inner child work with my therapist. My therapist said ‘why don’t you find a photo of yourself and put it on your bathroom mirror’ so that every day, every night you’re looking at her and you’re remembering that if you’re ever being mean to yourself, you’re talking about her.”
Kendall goes on to explain how she found the perfect picture for it. “I was looking through old photo books – and I've literally seen these books my whole life. I flip to a page and there was a photo I’d never seen of myself ever. It was a polaroid so it was the original photo, and it was me as a little girl with a bow in my hair and a dress on, Ihad a little alien tattoo or something here [points to her arm]. I have a big cheesy smile on my face, and I was like, that’s the photo I'm putting on my mirror. And now I talk to her – if I'm ever looking in the mirror and being negative towards myself I always look right over to her and I'm like ‘she’s dope and I love her’.”
She explained it’s just another method of self-love, which can be helpful to put in practice when fame feels overwhelming. Ditto, when the rumours about her and her Kardashian- Jenner- Jenner family feel too much – luckily, Kendall adds, over time she has learned to cope with them better.
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“There’s so many false narratives. So many people think they have you figured out when they don’t even know the half of it. It can feel really unfair because that is not who I am. That can really get to me sometimes and that really sucks. But then looking at myself in the mirror and being like, ‘I know who I am, so why does anything else matter?’ [helps].”
During the interview, Kendall also expressed her gratitude towards the privileged life she has fallen into, and said she is cautious about the way she shares information. “There's always been a weird part for me like – is this a pity party? Because I don't want it to be. I want this to feel very positive and to connect with people. There is this side of me that you may not know of.
“I was given this life for whatever reason, I was placed here and I feel a purpose to share and connect. As corny as it sounds, I want to spread love.”
The interview with Jay also holds a reminder to listeners – that we all have insecurities and down days – despite fame and fortune. “We all just want to be understood at the end of the day,” she continues. “I think we all need to be kinder to each other and just take it easy. We all have our own struggles.”
You can listen to the interview on Spotify, here.
Chloe Bowen is Cosmopolitan UK’s former Features Intern. She holds undergraduate and masters degrees in journalism, and ever since joining the Cosmo team, Chloe writes about everything from sex and dating to mental health, culture, body image and books. In her spare time, she’s likely to be cooking up tasty vegan food, in a yoga class, binge-watching crime documentaries or going on long walks with an over-priced oat milk flat white.
