In a powerful display of personal growth this week, 28-year-old Ashley Gordon healed her personal traumas by connecting with her inner child and bravely taking her on a back-to-school shopping spree.
“My therapist taught me to use my inner child to acknowledge and process events that caused me pain in my past,” says Ashley. “But then I realized that would take time, and was hard. So it was kind of a breakthrough moment when I remembered that right before starting fourth grade, my mom refused to take me to the mall to buy me all the cool stuff I wanted. So I just ran with that.”
Talk about prioritizing your mental health!
To further illustrate her recent strides in self-care, Ashley pulled out her phone to share a series of dressing room mirror selfies.
“I really needed to hold space and validate my wants, for example, this plaid shirt jacket.”
In a society that places so little emphasis on psychological well-being through the purchase of back-to-school items such as clothes, backpacks, notebooks, and gel pens, it is refreshing to see a woman fly in the face of those assumptions and give herself what her mom refused to buy her because the backpack she had was fine.
“When doing inner child work you need to pay super close attention to your feelings,” Ashley says. “Such as, ‘I feel like this is a great color on me’ or ‘I feel like this Moleskin notebook will be perfect for doing therapy homework, like writing down other things I should buy myself for therapy, like Lisa Frank folders or something.’”
“If I didn’t respect the feelings of my inner child, it could trigger strong emotions like, ‘you’ll never be cool enough to sit with Claire Camburn on the school bus!’” Ashley paused, taking a deep restorative breath. “Acknowledging those feelings is critical to avoid triggering old wounds and ultimately, looking hot.”
Sounds like a healed woman to us!
When reporters reached Ashley’s therapist for comment, she was enthused by her patient’s strides.
“I’m so proud of Ashley for finding herself and normalizing back to school shopping for adults who have not set foot in an educational setting in over 10 years,” Dr. Michelle Katz says. “She deserves this, especially because now she won’t risk growing out of her new fall clothes by the time it is actually cold..”
