Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. I'm Mina B, and I'm a licensed social worker, mental health educator, an author of owning our struggles.

Usually, I'm chatting with experts, wellness advocates, and others about the power of community

care in improving mental health.

In this episode, though, we are taking a different approach.

Instead of having a guest, it's all about our audience because it's Ask Mina Anything

Day.

Listeners had the chance to write in and ask their burning questions, as well as share their

dilemmas, and I'm here to assist them in addressing their issues, provide advice, and share some insight. So let's dive

into some of these questions. Our first question says, dear Mina, I tried to make friends, but from childhood till now, everyone has used and abandoned me. I accepted this as my fate. As no one wants to talk to me, I feel lonely. What should I do? So first, I want to validate how difficult this

can feel when you feel as if you have no community, no support system. You're not a part of a

solid friend group. Dealing with loneliness can be extremely hard. The first thing I want to

unpack is you sharing that you try to make friends, but from childhood, even until now,

you have felt used and abandoned. And so it sounds like here you have some childhood wounds

that might still need tending to. I'm curious to know what happened to you

in your childhood that made you feel as if people used you, abandoned you, and didn't really build

authentic connections with you. And now as an adult, what have you done to tend to those

childhood wounds? What have you also done to tend to your inner child?

I know people hear the term inner child and they're like, oh man, here comes the psychological

woo-woo. So let's unpack what that means. When we talk about our inner child, or I'll say,

when I as a licensed social worker talk about an inner child, it really means

reflecting on the different ways you've regressed to childlike mannerisms to deal with conflict

in your life. As adults, we all know that age does not equal maturity. And when you deal with trauma, especially if that trauma started in

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