Back to Our Youth [an unofficial challenge]

Welcome back to another unofficial challenge!

Thank you all for your patience as this challenge uploaded! I love and appreciate each and every one of you that have participated in these!! It's been a pleasure to host!

So what's this prompt gonna be? Let's find out!

The Prompt

Write a story in which you wake up in the body of your younger self OR you meet your younger self for coffee. (You may do this from the perspective of your older self.)

Purpose

I have stumbled upon many videos on TikTok and Instagram where users run through these scenarios, as a means to practice gratitude and reflection. As we are entering Spring, I thought I would stick on the theme of renewal and create a reflective prompt!

So how do I do this? What if I'm not the "older" version of myself yet?

You have a few options!

Coffee Date: (1) Write from the perspective of your current self meeting your younger self OR (2) Write from the perspective of your older self meeting your current self (or younger self)!

Waking Up: (1) Write from the perspective of your current self waking up in the body of your younger self OR (2) Write from the perspective of your older self waking up in the body of your current self (or younger self)!

Does that make sense?

Some questions to ponder

Coffee Date: What kind of things would your older self say to the younger version of you? How would they treat you (and vice versa)? What kind of emotions would come up? What would you both order? How would you both act?

Waking Up: What kind of things would your older self spend the day doing if you woke up in the body of your younger self? What kind of things would you be grateful to have back? What kind of changes would there be? What would be different?

Inspiration

I'm actually really excited to try this one out! If you need some inspiration, here are some links!

(Current self meeting your younger self for coffee -- IG @ mg.and.jacob)

(80-year-old self waking up in 22-year-old body -- IG @ faith_enokian)

My Exemplar: I decided to give a wack at it myself! Here is the link to my exemplar!

Some notes:

• You can write from 1st person or 3rd person!
• Although the purpose of this challenge is to inspire gratitude, it might also take on a more negative tone, and that's okay. It may be more of an exercise of reflection and reimagining your goals rather than an exercise for gratitude.
• Although the purpose of this challenge is to be personal and reflective, not everything needs to be true to you (but I would prefer it remain realistic). You can create a narrative of someone that might live in the world (e.g., writing from the perspective of a cancer survivor looking back at their younger self).

If you have any questions, reach out!!

Other Criteria

Word Count: I won't limit you on this! You can write as much or as little as you would like, but I'd recommend passing the 300 words mark!

Link back: If possible, embed a link at the end of your story back to this page so others can enter if they feel inspired to!

Comment: Come back and comment once your entry has been published!! Otherwise I won't see it!! D:

• The entries will be acknowledged with a reply and inserted into a list at the bottom of this post. Come back in a few days after you've entered and make sure I added you in!

FAQ

Can I make more than one submission? Yes, I welcome it!! Just keep in mind that only one submission per creator can be featured in the Top 3!

Can I submit a story that I have already written? I don't imagine many people will have already written a story like this, but I'm still gonna say no for this one!

Important Dates

Deadline: This challenge will close on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025, at 11:59pm MST.

Results: The results will be posted on Wednesday, May 7th, with the possibility of extending by one week to the 14th if I get more entries than initially expected! (If that's the case, this post will be updated to reflect that change.)

UPDATE: DUE TO THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES AND MY SCHEDULE, I AM GIVING MYSELF A WEEK EXTENSION (UNTIL THE 14TH), HOWEVER THE RESULTS SHOULD BE POSTED BEFORE THEN! STAY TUNED!

• The results post will include the Top 3 entries (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place) as well as little blurbs rationalizing my choices. There will be links to all submissions included at the end.
• Prizes? Currently my prizes are community based and not monetary. The prize goes to the 1st place winner only, in which I will read, like, and comment on FIVE of your posts that I have not yet read, as well as subscribe if I have not already.

If you have any questions about the prompt, feel free to comment below! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Happy writing everyone!

Happy writing everyone!

♡ Belle ♡

The Entries

All entries will be linked here in the order in which they were submitted.

1. "A Sprinkle of Cinnamon" by Shirley Belk
2. "The Tree Line" by Kendall Defoe
3. "It's Gonna Be Fine" by Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
4. "I Met My Younger Self" by M. A. Mehan
5. "Everybody Deserves a 2nd Chance" by David E. Perry
6. "Dark Roast" by Kendall Defoe
7. "Visitors" by David E. Perry
8. "bitter(sweet)" by Alexandria Stanwyck
9. "An untamed mind" by Antoni De'Leon
10. "Storm and Tempest" by Novel Allen
11. "Time Owes No Favours" by Paul Stewart
12. "Full Circle" by David E. Perry
13. "savoring" by Alexandria Stanwyck

I just want to say thank you for getting 10 entries already!

P.S.

Keep updated with all of my challenges by bookmarking my pillar post!

Also!

Send some love to the winning entry of the last challenge!

You can find the rest of the challenge results here:

:)