Imaginary caregiver in my head?

[Capri]

I have a sort of imaginary friend/part of myself that is like a caregiver to me in littlespace.  

Whenever I'm feeling down I try to encourage myself in my head saying things like "You got this babe." 

Maybe being a single little I'm trying to parent my inner child in a way until Daddy finds me. Giving stickers to myself and trying to make my own rules.

Does any other little experience this too? 

[Green Dream]

To a certain degree, I experience this.  My current life situation isn't conducive to having an in-person relationship, so internal parenting through tough times has been necessary...and occasional retail therapy hasn't hurt.

The part I find challenging is to not go too deep into the fantasy; to potentially build such an idealized caregiver in my head will be detrimental to the reality of having a living person in one's life, one who is just as flawed as myself and subject to the vagaries of living on this planet, in this time.  That's not to say that an imaginary caregiver is bad, especially when feeling very alone and lost, but sometimes what you truly need is the physical, like a hug or the stern eyes that won't cave to you not doing the chores.  And as much as I love all my stuffies, new and aged, they don't hug back as tightly as I need them to.

So, it's just one day at a time.  Trying to think about my actions/areas that need improvement and what big or little step I can do that would make someone proud.  Some days/weeks/months are better than others.  And today is not yesterday.

Edited July 10, 2024 by Green Dream

[Tasherz]

I get where you are coming from. Completely! You have no idea how many times I've made myself a little lunch or snack knowing I will need or want it later.  Taken the time to make a note with rules or guidelines for my little self to follow. I think it's normal for us to take the time and make sure to take care of our little selves when there isn't someone else there who can do it for us. 

[floralsforspring]

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Edited July 12, 2024 by floralsforspring

[Guest Gentleman_Daddy]

I think its normal to have some sort of inner narrative helping you to make decisions. If we didn't all have cognitive checks going on all the time, I mean wow, imagine how nuts the world would be

[Guest Divinitus]

Sounds very normal to me, all the single little's i encountered so far had this and most of them even made their own rules and so on. 

[Princ3ss-Baby-Bear]

You’re definitely not alone! I’ve had imaginary caregivers for years (they’re even in my dreams every night) I think it’s a way for us to ensure we get what we need and know that we should be proud of ourselves for doing things like adulting ^-^

[Capri]

Thank you all for the responses! Glad to know this is a normal behavior 😆

[LittleS]

Like everyone else says this is pretty normal. I have depression and anxiety so going out and meeting people is not going to happen. So I built up a daddy In my head based on what I'd want my daddy to be like. 

[BabyBrattyKittyKatty]

There's this: I'm always talking out loud to myself and people find it creepy.

There's also this: I've only recently been able to separate the image of a daddy figure from a guy I dated before. I accomplished this isolation through listening to asmr daddy whenever I was really in need of comfort and guidance. Then I realized, having an on-call virtual daddy is like having an internal parent, which I read somewhere we should all have. And I finally have it! The ability to parent myself, my inner child. 

So yeah, you're awesome!

[MoJo]

17 hours ago, BabyBrattyKittyKatty said:

There's this: I'm always talking out loud to myself and people find it creepy.

There's also this: I've only recently been able to separate the image of a daddy figure from a guy I dated before. I accomplished this isolation through listening to asmr daddy whenever I was really in need of comfort and guidance. Then I realized, having an on-call virtual daddy is like having an internal parent, which I read somewhere we should all have. And I finally have it! The ability to parent myself, my inner child. 

So yeah, you're awesome!

I talk to myself out loud as well. People don’t understand that it is my way to think. I need to hear the words out loud