Can my ‘inner child’ help me navigate life as an adult?

‘Thinking about myself as a child casts my adult life in a new light.’ Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

I’m mindlessly scrolling on my laptop one night when I remember the blog I used to write as a nine-year-old. To my surprise, it’s still live.

I spend the rest of the evening poring over my child-self’s Comic Sans screeds. Ellie, as I was known then, was plucky, opinionated and passionate about her niche interests (Beanie Babies, dog breeds); she wrote with a lack of self-consciousness I envy.