I met my younger self for coffee

I met my younger self for coffee / She was 20 minutes late, I was 5 minutes late

She wore skinny jeans and a cardigan with her hair fried from all the heat she uses / I wore an oversized sweatshirt and mom jeans with my natural curls framing my face

She ordered a too sweet caramel latte with soy milk / I ordered an iced oat milk latte and glanced at her with curious eyes

She leaned over and whispered about how nervous she is about what to do after graduation / She thinks she knows what she wants but she’s not sure / I sat back and took a deep breath, I collected my thoughts

She rambled about dying to work at Conde Nast / I listened to her every word and didn’t cut her off

She is so passionate and so driven / I have been worn down by the years gone by, I almost felt like I was letting her down

She pleaded with me to tell me if our career worked out, if our relationship panned out / I looked up at her, arms crossed, and tell her about our career journey She listened

I told her I don’t really know what comes next, and I think that’s part of the journey / She glanced down and sat with the knowledge that we’re still figuring it out

To be completely honest with you, I have been struggling to figure out what to write to you all after the last newsletter. I thought I had it planned out, but surprise surprise I did not. I wanted to talk about a book that is relevant and timely, instead I read two fiction books. And of course I scrolled a lot. There were a few things that grabbed my attention online, and this trend was one of them.

Inspired by a poem originally written by Jennae Cecilia, “I met my younger self for coffee” completely took over my timeline. Countless videos of people recounting what they would say or do during a coffee date. I was hooked. Naturally, I started thinking about my own version. What would I say? What would I do?

@jennaececelia

i am the original author of this poem- it is in my new book: DEEP IN MY FEELS available now wherever books are sold!💜 i love all the versi... See more

Let’s be real, I was completely unsure if I could even imagine a coffee date with my younger self because I still feel like I don’t have it all figured out yet. But then I got to thinking about why I started this newsletter and realized it’s ok to be a work in progress. I would want my younger self to know that too. That photo up there? That’s who I met up with. She’s 18, learning photography, endlessly trying to be deep and artsy, but still so unsure of herself.

I think of myself at that age, being a freshman and sophomore in college, a lot. That girl was trying hard, yes, but she was also so incredibly driven. She went after what she wanted and she created as often as an idea sprung into her mind. Sometimes, I wish I could go back but I also know that at 31, I wouldn’t ask for a do over. Am I creating less these days? Yes. Am I resting more? Also, yes. I think we all need to get a little bit better giving ourselves some grace and that includes our past selves as well. 

I am curious, what would your poem look like? What would you say to your younger self? Click on that cute lil button below this paragraph to share your thoughts with me about this one. Ok, see you in two weeks for our very first interview of the series! YAY!