High School Reunion Jitters

Anyone who has been to a class reunion knows there is a certain amount of anxiety associated with attending a reunion. As the reunion approaches your mind becomes flooded with thoughts. Will there be anyone there I know? What if my old boyfriend or girlfriend is there? What if nobody remembers me? What if I don't recognize classmates or remember their names?  What if I run into someone I didn't get along with in school? I've put on weight. I've gone gray. I've lost my hair. I don't feel that successful.

Relax! You are not alone in these thoughts. Everyone else is having the same exact thoughts and reunion jitters. Don't let these thoughts get in the way of attending your class reunion.

We have all changed. So what! We’re not 17 anymore. The laws of gravity and time catch up with all of us eventually. Changes are an inevitable fact of life. Everyone is successful in their own way. Accept yourself for who you are. Be yourself. Celebrate life's changes. Relax and go and have a good time. Letting such negative thoughts impact your decision to attend may result in you missing out on a wonderful time.

Focus your thoughts instead on the positive aspects of attending. This is an opportunity to go out and have some fun once every 5 or 10 years, renew old friendships, catch up with each others lives, to celebrate your youth and feel young again (if only for a moment), to reminisce about the good old days, to share time with old friends while we are still able to, to celebrate our changes. You will quickly find that people are not there to judge you but are there for the same reasons you are to have a great time and touch their past. It can be a wonderfully rejuvenating experience. When it is over we can take comfort in the fact that we have all changed, we've all gone down different paths in life but that we all still share a common bond and enjoy a good party.

Here's some tips to help you relax at your class reunion:

• Go with an attitude of having fun.
• Be yourself and be proud of who you are.
• Dress comfortably.
• Remember everyone will have changed. You're not alone.
• Hookup with a few close classmates beforehand and go to the reunion together.
• It's perfectly okay to not remember someone. Our memories all fade. That's why name tags were invented!