I met my younger self for coffee ☕

There's a trend going viral right now where people write a short exchange between their current self and a version of their past self in a coffee shop. In this exchange, the current self gives the past self advice for their struggles and shows them that everything will be okay in the end, no matter what they’re facing.

A friend sent me a video from this trend and told me it reminded her of my writing. I was moved and inspired at the same time.

Moved because its lovely to hear that somebody is so familiar with your writing style that they can see glimmers of it in the work of others. Inspired because it had been a while since I'd written anything as vulnerable and nostalgic as a letter to my past self.

I haven't made time for that kind of poetic and tender writing recently, but I knew I wanted to revisit it. The short and sweet hypothetical coffee shop exchanges filling my feed were enough to draw me back in.

I spared a little bit of my day to transport my consciousness into a realm where it was possible to speak to a younger version of myself over coffee.

I'm glad I did. I didn't realise how much I had to say to teenage me or how much reassurance she needed. It was healing.

When I met her in that coffee shop, one conjured just for us, this is how it went.

I met my younger self for coffee.

She arrived 10 minutes early. I apologise for being a few minutes late.

She orders an iced latte with one pump of sugar free caramel. I order an extra hot almond flat white.

She wears a shapeless jumper, leggings and worn-out Airforce 1s. I wear a trenchcoat over my favourite mini dress and chocolate knee-high boots.

She tells me she wants to work in book publishing. I tell her I write for a magazine.

She tells me she can't look at herself in the mirror; she doesn't like what she sees. I tell her she is beautiful in her own way and one day she will believe it.

A tear rolls down her cheek. I wipe it away.

She asks me about love. I tell her it is beautiful but it will break her.

She asks me if she'll ever get over it. I lift my chin and tell her it will transform her in the best way.

She says she doesn't get on with her sister. I laugh and say yeah, that will change.

She says she doesn't fit in. I take her hands and tell her she doesn't have to.

She rushes off to meet a friend. I stay for a while.

I smile to myself. I hope we meet again soon.

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