12/25/2025
Playing games with my family was the start to healing my inner child 🥹. There’s something about play that forces us to be present in the moment, it’s low risk, and the focus is about having fun. All these things were absent growing up as a young immigrant family because our focus was on survival.
Through play, I experienced parts of my parents that I never knew existed. A childlike innocence, wonder, joy, teasing, competitiveness that all created emotional safety for me. In being able to interact with my parents as children, as an adult, my inner child finally got what it always wanted and needed. And that healed parts of me that I didn’t even know were still in pain.
I recognize that healing for every family looks different. For me, play was the first step in cultivating that emotional safety for a deeper work, for harder conversations.
I remember wishing my family were those families who laughed and played together. And for the first time as an adult, I get that 🥹
I know the holiday season triggered a lot of family pain. For those of you who feel hopeless when it comes to family, I see you, I’ve been there with you, and there is hope in healing, maybe in ways you never imagined 🥹.
