‘Coffee date’ with your younger self? See emotional TikTokers reflect on their growth

A trend where TikTokers are meeting their “younger self for coffee” has users reflecting on the past and embracing the change they’ve experienced.

The trend comes from a Feb. 4 video posted by user @Jennaececelia who took to the app to share her experience while on the “coffee date” with herself.

Her poem went viral, amassing 270,000 views as of Feb. 13 and causing others to partake and share how their “dates” went.

User @Puffy817 said “I met my younger self for coffee today” in her Feb. 6 video.

“She told me her family of 5 lives in an apartment; I told her I own a home and so do my mom and dad,” the user said in her video.

The user goes on to share even more obstacles she overcame by saying, “She told her dad’s business is struggling; I told her my dad owns 3 businesses.” The video is captioned “Why did this trend heal a little but in me while I wrote it.”

Commenters were in agreement that the TikToker should feel “so dang proud” of herself, with one person saying, “From one stranger to another, I’m so proud of you.”

“This actually made me tear up, I am so proud of you and I don’t even know you,” another wrote.

Another user, @Seydanoirpoetry, shared the life-changing differences between her past and present self. “She excitedly showed me her engagement ring, I smiled, but tucked my ringless fingers under my legs,” according to the Feb. 8 video.

The user spoke to her younger self about her relatives and the changes she’ll experience by saying, “We talk about family, and she tells me how much she loves her grandparents. I tell her how much I miss mine,” the video showed.

The user and her past self even exchange “I’m sorry,” saying, “We both apologize, her unnecessarily, me justifiably,” the text overlaying the video read.

Again, users were in agreement that the trend is pulling at their “heart strings” with one person saying, “OK, this one made me cry.”

User @Gisellerosalie took to the app to share her experience with the trend and how some things never change, saying, “We both arrived on time. Too anxious to be late,” according to the Feb. 6 video.

The two talked about love, saying “she confessed to me her crush,” the video read.

But, the user’s present self had a secret she shared: “I told her I was in love. I whispered a name she doesn’t know yet across the table.”

The window into the user’s love life had commenters “unwell,” with one person saying, “Heavy on the name she doesn’t know yet part. God’s timing is divine!”

“‘A name she doesn’t know yet’ hit me for sure. Love it,” another wrote.

For user @Febighela’s experience with the trend, she said, “She told me about her plans — a life mapped out to perfection, yet somehow no room for herself. I told her I’m still moving forward, letting life breathe between the steps,” according to the Feb 9. video.

The user reminded her younger self to prioritize her own well-being and that her “happiness comes from seeing others happy,” the video showed.

The user’s younger self dreamed of living abroad, and her “eyes lit up” when she showed her photos of her future apartment in Australia, the video read.

“It’s truly healing to see everyone making peace with their inner child here,” she wrote in the post’s comments.

Another user, known as @Justl0ttie, said she knew both parties weren’t actually there for coffee before they both “ordered” a chocolate milkshake, according to the Feb. 10 video.

The two quickly began discussing love.

“I know she’s only here to fill the void in what his presence used to be,” the user said in the video in reference to her younger self.

The user’s present self assures the girl that “one day in the far future, he’s not her problem anymore.”

The user goes on to show her younger self grace when she gets a text from the person who has hurt her four times.

“I was excited to tell her all the new things she was going to discover about herself once that he’d left and how mentally I can now sit with my feelings instead of bottling them up, but our conversation got cut short when he messaged her asking her to meet. I told her to go because I know that’s what she’d been waiting for,” the user said in the video.

But one thing that remained unchanged, the user, both then and now, still had her friend, Ellie, the video said.

As for the impact the trend has had on TikTok, one user summed it up for everyone.

“I hope I see her again.”

This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 4:11 PM with the headline "‘Coffee date’ with your younger self? See emotional TikTokers reflect on their growth."