"I met my younger self for coffee this week"

Plus! Link to CV/LinkedIn workshop for freelance journos in this Substack

There’s a trend going round on Instagram this week where people say they went for a coffee with their younger self. They share what’s changed, in the form of a conversation between themselves and ‘young them’.

There are ‘tales’ of success, of ‘we got through it’, of achievement or solidarity with the person they used to be.

I thought a few times about joining in, and even drafted some posts, but something’s held me back from posting.

It’s easy to jump on a trend when you create content, I’m often guilty of that! But what kept popping into my mind wasn’t my younger self but my older self.

That’s the person I’d really like to meet up with - I’d like to hear from her about how things have panned out. I want to know what I do in ten or more years’ time. Whether I’m coaching full time, whether I still live in the Cotswolds, whether I’m semi-retired, whether I have another dog.

I’d like her to tell me that I come through the menopause ok, and that I don’t feel like I’m going mad and forget everything anymore. I’d like her to reassure me that the choices I’m making now with my career are the right ones, and that it all works out ok.

Is it selfish that I want to know this stuff, rather than reassuring my younger self ‘we did it!’? It feels that way a little bit.

Imagining meeting your younger self helps you tap into your past hopes, dreams and goals and reflect on what you’ve achieved as well as what changed that you weren’t expecting.

But imagining yourself meeting your OLDER self feels more powerful to me. That is about saying where you want to go, how you want things to change, the things you’re doing now that you hope will become a bigger part of your life.

That taps into the idea of goal setting in the now, rather than just reflecting on the past.

So if you’ve already imagined meeting younger you, why not also imagine meeting older you.

Happy Friday everyone

Jenny x

P.S FOR ALL THE FREELANCE JOURNOS AND WRITERS! I’ve just set the link live for the CV workshop on March 21st. There are early bird tickets available at £30. Click HERE to book your space.