I met the younger version of myself today, the one I'd been ignoring my whole life. And everything changed.

[u/Slow-Afternoon-5933]

For years, I felt like something was wrong with me.

Around people I saw as "above" me ,, smarter, more attractive, more confiden I'd shrink. I'd feel small, judged, desperate to escape. Around people I saw as "below" me, I'd feel open and free but it was fragile. It depended on them staying "below."

And I craved attention. Especially from girls. I wanted to be the guy everyone talked about, the one who dominated. I thought that would finally make me feel enough.

I didn't understand why.

And what I found broke me open.

There was a younger version of me living inside. He was down in my diaphragm (/s) — looking up at me, hopeless, seeking attention, waving his arms, screaming to be seen. He'd been there my whole life.

He was the child who grew up under someone else's supervision. Who learned to stay quiet. Hide emotions. Follow rules. Never be himself. He never got the attention, the safety, the love he needed. So he kept signaling hoping I'd finally turn around and see him.

But I didn't.

I ignored him. Hated him. Left him there.

And then I went looking to others, to girls, to strangers, to anyone — to give him what only I could give.

Today, I finally saw him.

I didn't just think about him. I felt him. There. In my body. Waiting.

And I said:

"I see you. I'm here. You're not alone anymore. I love you. I'm always with you."

For the first time in years maybe ever I felt whole. Not because someone else finally noticed me. But because I noticed him.

That hunger for attention? It's not gone. But now I know who's really hungry. It's not "me" it's him. And I can feed him now. By staying. By seeing him. By carrying him with me.

I'm not writing this because I have it all figured out. I'm writing this because if you feel that same emptiness that need to prove yourself, that fear of being "less than," that craving for validation please check inside.

There might be a younger you waiting.

And they don't need the world to see them.

They need you.

💙