Why Receiving Love Feels Impossible (and How Your Inner Child is Secretly Protecting You)

 

When Love Feels Like a Hoax

Let’s get real: sometimes love lands on your doorstep, and your first thought is, “Wait… what’s the catch?”

Compliments? Suspicious.
Acts of kindness? Probably a trick.
Partner showing appreciation for your existence? Must be covering something.

I’ve been there. Even after years of healing, I still swing between trusting love and side-eyeing it like a scam. The intellectual me knows: I am worthy of love. The emotional me? Screaming: This is too good to be true.

Here’s the kicker: I finally stopped shaming myself for these reactions. Those “ugly” parts? Not broken. Not weak. Pure survival brilliance.

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Your Inner Child Was a Genius (Even if You Hate That She’s Still Bossing You Around)

In Dear Little Me: Self-Discovery Journal for Inner Child Healing & Reparenting, I dig deep into this idea in the section Honoring Your Inner Child’s Brilliance. Spoiler: your inner child wasn’t just surviving—she was engineering genius strategies to keep you alive and emotionally safe.

Think about it:

• People-pleasing galore? That’s a kid who learned saying “no” meant punishment or abandonment.
• Hyper-independence? That’s a kid who realized no one was coming to help, so she had to do it all.
• Snappy, defensive reactions? That’s a kid who used anger as armor because crying or showing fear was unsafe.
• Quiet and invisible? That’s a kid who discovered staying unnoticed was the safest bet.

These were survival hacks. Brilliant ones. But here’s the problem: what kept you alive then is now keeping you from fully receiving love and showing up in your adult life.

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The Adult Struggle Meets the Childhood Blueprint

Those old contracts—play small, give everything, expect nothing—don’t serve your grown-up self. And trying to “just be positive” or bulldoze past them? Yeah… it usually backfires.

This is where journaling comes in like a boss. Dear Little Me doesn’t just give you empty affirmations. It guides you through your root stories, helps you identify protective patterns, and gently shows your inner child: I’ve got this. I’ve got you.

That’s where real self-love begins: from “what’s wrong with me?” to “wow, little me was pure brilliance.”

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Why This Matters to Your Life Now

If compliments make you cringe, or kindness feels suspicious, that’s not your adult self being dramatic. That’s your inner child still wired to protect you.

So if you’ve ever thought:

• “Why do I attract one-sided relationships?”
• “Why do I give so much but struggle to accept even a little?”
• “Why do compliments make me uncomfortable?”

…it’s not brokenness. It’s history, it’s survival, and it’s time for a rewrite.

You now have tools your younger self didn’t. Pause, notice the old pattern, thank the protective part, and remind yourself: I don’t have to shield us anymore. I’ve got this.

That’s self-love, in action.

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Your Invitation to Reclaim Love

Here’s the deal:

1. You’re not alone. Strong, high-achieving women struggle to receive the love they give every day.
2. You don’t need fixing. You need remembering. Remembering that your inner child built genius coping mechanisms—and now you can honor, heal, and transform them.

That’s why I created Dear Little Me. It’s a guided workbook that walks you through reconnecting with the child inside, honoring her defenses, soothing her fears, and finally letting real love in—without guilt, suspicion, or overthinking.

Because receiving love? Not a weakness. It’s one of the boldest, bravest moves you can make. And guess what? You’re ready for it.

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✨ Your Turn: Notice how you resist love or compliments today. What’s one protective habit showing up? Comment below—I promise, you’re not the only one.

💛 Want to go deeper? Dear Little Me is your guided path to healing old wounds, loving your inner child, and claiming the love you’ve always deserved.