I’ve only been on TikTok for about 6 months, but I love the app’s constant evolution. Each week, dozens of trends pop up, and in the last week, I had one of my all-time favorites appear on my For You Page (FYP). This TikTok trend reflects on all the aspects of the individual’s current life that their past self would love, marvel at, or generally enjoy. I thought I’d make a slightly longer version of this trend and memorialize it in blog form. 

4-year-old me would be thrilled that I still talk to my older brother every single day

Jake and I have long been best friends. In fact, over Christmas, he reminded me that I’m one of his few “25-year friends.” As a kid who idolized everything her older brother did, I love knowing that we grew up to talk every single day. 

6-year-old me would wonder why I am not married and don’t have any kids

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a mom. Whenever I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I answered “a mom” without missing a beat. I’m only 25, but I think I am right in the period that 6 year old me would have thought was appropriate for both marriage and children. 

8-year-old me would be obsessed with the fact that I write for a living

It was in second grade that I first discovered my love of writing. When we were prompted to write a creative story, most of my classmates wrote two or three pages. I wrote seven. I became known as the best writer in the class and even won a class award for it at the end of the year. There’s no doubt that 8-year-old me would think my current job of writing and traveling the world is one of the coolest out there. 

10-year-old me would have bet money that we’d still have the same childhood BFF (and she’d be right)

At age 10, I met my childhood BFF, Hannah, who is still my bestie to this day. We were in the same 5th-grade class together, and our friendship has blossomed since. We’ve historically been a fan of long phone conversations, and since I moved away from North Caroline before 10th grade, we’ve chatted on the phone nearly daily. I just know I would’ve taken bets on our friendship lasting long-term. The photo of us above is from the summer of 2015 after our respective high school graduations.

12-year-old me would love how confident and independent I’ve become

Twelve is such a difficult age. I remember being in middle school and being so unsure of so many different things (whether I showed that outwardly or not). I think I would truly relish the fact that I feel confident in who I am and the choices I’ve made. A lot of that confidence comes from practicing independence over the past several years (i.e., making decisions alone, getting to know myself better, traveling solo), and I think my middle school version of myself would love to know how I feel about myself now.

14-year-old me would be proud of all the plans I made and followed through on 

I’ve always been a planner but 14-year-old me really began to think about the big picture. It’s when I first began to think about things like where I wanted to go to college and how I wanted to get married (i.e., my long-held dream of having a wedding in Italy). That was the time in my life when I first began to see my life on a macro level. I love thinking about how excited I’d be to know I still diligently plan parts of my life today, and I’ve made a lot of those plans come true. 

16-year-old me would cry knowing I got into my dream school

I spent all of my high school years focused on getting into a good college. I played the game that universities have created to pick out the “best” students. It was utterly exhausting, and I know that my high school self would love to know that all that hard work ultimately paid off. 

18-year old me would be shocked I don’t wear make-up or do my hair every day 

For a few years in college, I picked out outfits and did my make-up every single day to craft a put-together look that made me feel whole. Somewhere between my full-time travel and the COVID-19 pandemic, the full face of makeup and perfect hair ceased to exist. And that’s okay with me now, but I know that 18-year-old me would wonder what happened. 

20-year old me would burst knowing I’ve been to 14x more countries and I’m still traveling 

At 20, I was anxiously looking forward to studying abroad (especially after a frustrating job experience and sad breakup). Before studying abroad, I had only visited 5 countries. After studying abroad, I had visited 22. To date, I’ve visited 70. That number is so high that I wouldn’t even have set it in a lofty goal. 

22-year-old me wouldn’t believe I’m now dating my best friend 

I guess I do believe the saying that you find love when you’re not looking for it. After two-and-a-half years of friendship and several invisible strings, Dan and I have been together for almost two years. But if you had told me this back in 2017 or 2018, I would have said you were crazy. 

Final Thoughts

I love this Tiktok trend because it made me think back on 10 different ages and how each of those individual Kelseys would see where I am today. While I certainly don’t take each Tiktok trend this seriously, it is nice when something simple on social media can be applied to other elements of your life. 

Check out more blogs focused on my personal reflections in The World According to Kelsey.