Have You Ever Met a 57-Year-Old 6-Year-Old?

Have You Ever Met a 57-Year-Old 6-Year-Old?

Have you ever met a 57-year-old 6-year-old?
Well… hello. It’s nice to meet you.

What’s it like being a 6-year-old in a 57-year-old body?

Not easy.

You’d think it would be fun, right? Go to bed when you want. Eat what you want. Play as much as you want.
The problem is… the 57-year-old blocks most of that.

And what’s left isn’t the carefree part of being six.
What’s left is the trauma.

Not the joyful memories of how to giggle, play, and make life your full-time job—just the fear, the confusion, and the emotional reflexes that never really got to grow up.

What I Learned This Week

Today I want to share something I learned, in the hope that it might help you one day.

I’m six.

I know I don’t look like an average six-year-old. But to be fair, I’ve never been an average anything. I’m smart, resourceful, optimistic, and down-to-earth.

But I’m also frightened… abused… confused… and angry.

That version of me shows up whenever my 57-year-old self has an experience that I decide feels scary. I sound the alarm. I cry. I stomp. I warn her like I’m trying to save her life.

I tell her things like:
“You’re depressed.”
“You need to get out while you can.”
“This isn’t safe.”

But here’s what I learned just the other day:

I can be six… and I can be fifty-seven… and we don’t have to feel the same emotions.

My 57-year-old self can turn off the alarm. She can sit with me while I cry. She can listen while I bawl my eyes out about what I’m feeling—without trying to argue me out of it.

Do I sound crazy yet?

Maybe.
But I also sound like someone finally learning how to heal.

Because what we don’t heal… we will eventually feel.

A Small Practice You Can Try

Here’s what I’m doing lately—maybe you can try it too:

Look in the mirror and smile at yourself.

Let that smile say something simple like:
We’re okay.
We deserve to smile.
We’re safe enough to be kind to ourselves today.
We’re in control of what we can control.

Try it often. Every day if you can.

Then pause and really observe how you feel.

You just might find a 6-year-old smiling back at you.

What I Learned

This is the beginning of a weekly series called “What I Learned.”

Each week, I’ll share a short reflection about emotions—how we handle them, how others handle them, and what we’re learning as we go. My hope is that something in these posts will make you smile, chuckle, exhale… and maybe even hang on for one more day.

See you next week.