How Does Reparenting Yourself Ease Anxiety?

Anxiety is often fueled by uncertainty. The “what ifs” of life can make it difficult to deal with anxious thoughts and fears. For some, it’s possible to find comfort by leaning into the support and reassurance you received from your parents as a child.

For others, things aren’t that easy. Maybe you didn’t have that comforting, reassuring relationship. Maybe issues from your childhood actually do more harm than good today when it comes to bolstering your anxiety. 

Thankfully, there are ways to reparent yourself. Doing so can help to heal childhood wounds so you can feel a sense of security when faced with anxious thoughts.

Let’s take a closer look at reparenting and how it can help to ease anxiety. 

What Is Reparenting?

It might seem a little odd to think that you can reparent yourself on your own as an adult. But the idea is to reconnect with your inner child. Doing so helps you identify any trauma you might have experienced at a young age. It also makes it easier to understand your needs.

Whether you currently have children or not, think about how you might act around a child you love. You would encourage them, love them, prioritize their needs, and acknowledge their emotions. 

If those aren’t things you experienced as a child, you can address those unmet emotional or physical needs from childhood.

There are plenty of techniques you can use in the reparenting process. It starts with self-compassion and kindness. You might struggle with negative beliefs about yourself or negative self-talk, which can lead to low self-esteem and greater fear. Prioritize positive self-talk, self-care, and emotional acknowledgment. Instead of trying to bury whatever you’re feeling, allow it to surface so you can work through it.

How Reparenting Eases Anxiety

Anxiety can manifest itself through a variety of symptoms. It can cause self-doubt, insecurity, and a sense that you’re not safe. 

Reparenting can help with those issues by boosting your self-worth. When you have a greater sense of self and more confidence, it’s easier to fight back against the effects of anxiety rather than letting them take hold.

The missteps of your parents can cause you to feel like your emotions don’t matter. Reparenting will show you that all of your emotions are valid and deserve to be understood. So, instead of pushing anxious thoughts away, you can deal with them directly before they spiral out of control. 

Anxiety doesn’t seem as overwhelming when you have a deep sense of love for yourself. If you didn’t receive that love from your parents, there’s no reason why you can’t establish it for yourself now.

How To Effectively Reparent Yourself

The idea of reparenting might seem difficult at first, especially if you don’t have the best “blueprints” to work from. But it’s mostly a matter of being self-compassionate. If your feelings weren’t acknowledged as a child, or your parents didn’t seem to care much about what you were doing or how you were feeling, make that your top priority now.

Honor your feelings rather than trying to ignore them or suggest they don’t matter. Be patient with yourself as you walk through this journey. It can be a difficult one, but it’s incredibly rewarding to finally recognize your self-worth, no matter how old you are. 

You don’t have to go through the reparenting process on your own. While a therapist can’t step in and reparent for you, they can offer effective strategies to help along the way. If you believe issues from childhood are fueling your anxious thoughts, don’t hesitate to set up a consultation for anxiety therapy so we can discuss further how reparenting yourself can make a difference.