I Met My Younger Self For Coffee

About

I Met My Younger Self For Coffee is a poem by Jennae Cecelia that inspired a TikTok trend in February 2025. Cecelia released the poem as a video on her TikTok page, @jennaececelia, early that month and it went viral in the following weeks, inspiring videos in which TikTokers write captions about going to coffee with and talking to their younger selves. Some of the videos use the format to joke about ways they have or have not changed, while others are more serious, using the format to discuss more impactful changes in their lives.

Origin

On February 4th, 2025, Jennae Cecelia posted a video to TikTok^[1] set to "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls consisting of footage of her wall with an original poem overtop. The poem starts, "I met my younger self for coffee at 10:15. She was late. I was early." The poem is about the author meeting up with her past self to be the supporting person that she needed but didn't have at the time and showcases the growth she's made since then. The video gained over 300,000 views in two weeks.

I met my younger self for coffee at 10:15.
She was late.
I was early.
I wore my dark brown hair in a slicked back bun.
Her hair was faded red and in her face.
I had dark blue jeans on.
She wore sweatpants with a few stains.
She lets out a sigh and has a good cry.
I tell her to release her feelings one at a time.
The scars on her have now faded on me quite a bit.
I want to tell her it won't always be like this.
But I don't.
She doesn't need to hear that things will be better.
She just wants a hug and reassurance of her feelings
during this uncertain season ahead of her.
We leave the aroma of coffee beans and baked goods.
I walk her home to our old neighborhood.
We won't meet again for 15 more years. but each day she thinks of the woman who acknowledged her tears.

Spread

The poem garnered viral spread and became the subject of memes and other videos on TikTok, including videos that alter the lines of the poem and use the format and idea of the poem to reference their own lives.

For example, on February 4th, 2025, TikToker^[2] @hello.kelsie posted a video in which she displayed a version of the poem that fits her own life, garnering over 104,000 views in two weeks. On February 8th, TikToker^[3] @aoifeofarrell posted a video with a caption reading, "I met my younger self for a coffee today. she was such a bitch," garnering over 1.2 million views in 10 days.

On February 12th, TikToker^[4] @sundayservicesadness posted a video in which they used the format of the poem to discuss their decision to detransition, garnering over 124,000 views in six days.

That day, Redditor u/Ok-Pangolin-9472 made a post to the subreddit /r/CPTSD,^[5] which is described as a "support group for those with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," titled, "'I met my younger self for coffee' trend is triggering as hell…" In the post, which gained over 2,300 upvotes in six days, the user explains that the trend is triggering because people are "using it to just list all of their achievements." Later, they edited the post, writing, "My comment wasn’t made out of jealousy at these people – just my own feelings of inadequacies that this trend is triggering."

On February 13th, 2025, the poem's author posted a video to TikTok^[6] explaining the meaning of her poem, garnering over 32,000 views in five days. On February 14th, the poem and its virality were reported on by NBC News.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References