One of the things that helped my inner child heal from the inner emptiness growing up is by becoming my own parent. I took a notebook, and wrote down the aspects of my personality, along with talents that I have, and I wrote down while asking myself what is it about these qualities about myself that I like.

e.g What is it about writing stories that I love about myself? I love it because I feel like I'm contributing something to the world whenever I write a story.

You'd be surprised at how practicing this can calm that inner sadness/emptiness that eats away at your soul every day.