Since TikTok launched in 2016, the platform has become notorious for viral trends, from #dancechallenges to lip syncing to making recipes with unusual ingredients, if you’re bored or in the mood to try something new, TikTok is definitely a great place to be. A recent trend that has gone viral on the platform is one tagged "My mom told me to just be myself."
It started with a user posting an audio clip from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, followed by clips of the character being himself. The video that started the trend has over 4 million views and over 250,000 videos have been made using the audio the last time we checked.
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How this trend kicked off.
The viral “My mom told me to just be myself" trend started with a TikTok video created by user @siredariess. The user posted an audio clip of Diary of a Wimpy Kid character Rowley Jefferson saying, “My mom told me to just be myself and people would like me.”
Then, several short clips show Jefferson being, well, himself. TikTok users have followed Jefferson’s mom's advice, which resulted in some of the cutest videos of people, or animals, just being themselves.
And of course, moms jumped in on the trend, showcasing their toddlers just being themselves — and it’s adorable.
Some of the cutest videos feature toddlers just doing what toddlers do best — and mothers of toddlers can attest to the hilarious antics that their kiddos do on a daily basis. One mother, @mikaylamathews, posted her toddler in some messy situations, but looking darling while doing it. The video was viewed over 400,000 times and received 73,000 likes.
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This mother posted her daughter eating flowers and playing with bugs, and it was precious.
A mother going by @brittikitty posted this beyond adorbs video of her little lady with flowers and bugs. The little girl looked like she was having the best time being herself. The video received over 2.5 million likes and over 8,000 comments.
Pet owners didn’t want to leave their furry friends out of the trend either.
Not to be left out of this adorable trend, several pet owners decided to showcase their pets playful and goofy personalities. TikToker @winniethecattledog showed clips of the cutest puppy just living his best life jumping, falling, and having a blast. The vid has received over 200,000 likes. Others posted about their animal friends, too, and we just can't get enough!
This pet owner had their feathered friend join the trend.
A pet owner who has two parrots showed one of the birds doing the cutest things, like snuggling in their hand and trying to join them in playing the drums. The user, who goes by @two.green.floofs, received over 28,000 likes on their video.
This animal lover's post came with a disclaimer.
Horse owner @npr.prince posted a video montage of their very loveable horse with the caption, “not everyone likes him as much as I do, luckily he has fans here on TikTok.”
The horse is seen sticking his tongue out, playing with toys, and rolling a ball around. The horse definitely does have his own fanbase on TikTok with the video receiving over 120,000 likes and over 400,000 views.
Some TikTok users poked fun at themselves for not having any video clips to join in on the trend.
Cute toddler and pet videos aside, most of the users who joined in had cute or funny clips of themselves eating, dancing, or acting goofy, presumably taken by friends. So some users started their own spinoff of the trend with the text overlay on their videos captioned, “the way I would CARRY this trend if my friends took videos of me.” But even the spinoff was all in good fun.
TikToker @b.jaymes posted her spinoff video that has received over 1.5 million likes with other users commenting that they could relate to being the friend who takes videos but isn’t in them.
Either way, it’s nice to see a positive trend go viral that encourages people to embrace themselves!
