Wholesome trends on TikTok are few and far between. My FYP has been limited to Pedro Pascal edits for weeks now (not that I’m complaining). So let’s just say, I wasn’t emotionally prepared for this. The “she lives inside of me” trend has blown up in the past week, and it’s a refreshing change from the usual chaos that circulates the app. With messages of self-compassion and a focus on our inner child, this is one of the cutest trends in a while.
Users have been participating in the trend by showing old videos of themselves as kids, many of them with heartwarming music from musician Ben Scott in the background. The TikTok #shelivesinsideofme has already garnered 5.5 million views and counting.Â
The most-liked video under the “she lives inside of me” hashtag comes from TikTok user @gabbersecretspam. In her TikTok, her younger self is singing and playing with a garden hose while her parent laughs in the background.
Another user, @sarahjbaer, does her own take on the trend as a bilingual child. She can be seen signing to the camera.
The comment sections of these videos are just as emotional. Many users share the sentiment that they miss the innocence that came with being young. They wish they could go back and experience the world as a child again.
Other users talk about how the trend has encouraged them to be kinder to themselves, acknowledging that they need to work on this area of their lives. The beauty is that there’s no right or wrong way to participate in it. All you gotta do is embrace that inner child — they’re still inside of you!
Do we need to tap back into our “inner child”?
“She lives inside of me” is a new way of embracing users’ inner child. The “inner child” refers to the idea that every single one of us has an internal self living within us since birth. This inner self remembers our emotional childhood experiences, as well as our hopes for the future. We carry these memories with us throughout our lives as we age.
“Inner child” work ranges from reconnecting with the person that we were as a kid to healing childhood trauma. As we get older, life becomes more complicated and we’re faced with challenges that distance us from who we were when we were young. One way to reconnect with your younger self is by embracing activities that used to bring you joy as a kid. Others might choose to get into meditation as a way of reconnecting with themselves. It looks different for everyone – it could just mean getting curious about yourself and your past.
Another way to approach inner child work is by asking yourself where your needs were not met. Some people refer to this as an act of “reparenting yourself,” but it could simply be acknowledging that there were some areas mentally or emotionally where you did not feel entirely safe. Even those who had a “good” childhood can engage in inner child work. Self-compassion doesn’t discriminate!
Whether you decide to start doing inner child work or not, “she lives inside of me” is undeniably wholesome. Any trend that promotes self-compassion is a win!