Feeling anxious about HS Reunion

[sonicfan287]

Hi all,

 

I wasn't extremely sure where to put this topic since it doesn't relate to dating or even friendships, nor romance or any major major issue but it's something that's been on my mind and gotten a bit stronger since the event is tomorrow.

 

My 10 year high school reunion is coming up. I have a lot of fond memories of high school but outside of a small circle of friends, I didn't really talk much to a lot of people in my over 200 student class of 2006. This isn't because I didn't like them, as most of them were really cool people. I was just a bit shy, introverted, whatever, but I did engage in small talk with most people at one point or another.

 

Anyway, being a sentimental person, I really struggled with the idea of if I wanted to go to the reunion. It meant a lot to me, but at the same time, I was worried that I wouldn't have much to talk about with the people who showed up. Ultimately, I decided to buy my ticket to go, figuring I would regret it if I didn't. I'm somewhat excited to go but also a little nervous, for whatever reason. Part of it is I don't have a whole long list of accomplishments to talk about. In the last 10 years, while a lot has happened, there's not much I really want to go into detail with. I still work the same job as I did shortly out of high school (as well as a second job I got 4 years ago), I still live in the same area, have no spouse, kids or anything major to speak of. While I realize people won't judge me on that, it would be nice to say more when people ask what I've been up to in the past 10 years since graduation. I still keep in touch with the people who I socialized with most back in the day, my small circle of friends but many of them live far away and probably won't be there tomorrow night so I won't have that "safety net" to fall back on if things don't go well socializing with some of the people I'm not too familiar with.

 

I figure on many fronts this will be a good thing for me. A good chance to mingle with people that I have SOME rapport with and who will be cool to see again, but of course it's still a bit nerve wracking from the standpoint that I haven't historically fared well in this situation. Then again, I have matured quite a bit since high school, so I'm hoping those jitters will only be temporary. I was hoping to maybe get some advice from anyone who's attended a high school reunion and what they did to kind of mingle and have a good time and not put too much pressure on the whole "what have you achieved since hs?" thing.

 

Any advice?? Thanks

[Seraphim]

I would go. You said you enjoyed the people. You might make important networking relationships there.

[ParisPaulette]

Just go. My mother who is a rather shy introverted person, although it's gotten better over the years, went to her 20th reunion six years ago. She loved it and connected with people she'd barely spoken to, gained some new friends, just had a blast. No one judged her on anything, everyone there was just into reconnecting on that night.

 

Now she has Alzheimer's, but still if she's having a bad day I can bring out the scrapbook she made of that reunion and it makes her smile and laugh, and remember things she's forgotten.

 

She nearly didn't go either, my sisters and I had to threaten to leave our jobs and drive her there if she didn't get on the plane. And she and I am so glad she did, so just go.

 

You will regret not going far, far more than you will just going.

[Wiseman2]

Yep, agree with everyone else. Just go, be yourself and enjoy! You'll have a blast.

[journeynow]

You can tell people you have stayed at your job and in your area and are loving it, and have expanded into a second job as well. Those are accomplishments, right? Because, you know, not everyone has managed that. The economy has been challenging for some over the past 10 years. My guess is that at the reunion all you have to do is ask more questions than talk about yourself. Let people talk, ask more questions, and you might stumble upon similarities, interests, experiences, even if at first glance you thought you were different.

[sonicfan287]

Thank you very much everyone for your replies!

 

I'm definitely going no matter how nervous I may feel and may even have fun (wouldn't that be novel? ) More often than not, I work on the weekends. I'm a private party DJ so I actually go to a good number of parties a year but never as a guest so this will be a unique opportunity, especially since it's a party with a lot of people I graduated high school with. Should be fun and while I'm sometimes a dancer if I'm with friends, I'm a bit less inclined to do so with people who aren't ... how do I say this... understanding of my limitations (i.e. I can't dance but my friends know this and don't care that I try)? LOL but anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to it on some level. I've let my anxiety get the best of me in the past and stop me from just going out there and having fun so at least for tonight, that won't be the case.

 

The conversational strategies I've been offered here are helpful as well. Always good to focus on the positive and to ask questions of others so I don't feel inclined to do all the talking. There were some people even outside my circle of friends who I had a couple of inside jokes with. I'm hoping they'll be there (I honestly have no clue who will be there which contributes to some of my anxiety) so we can revisit that on some level and reminisce about the time we wasted in study hall.

 

I figure, even if things don't go stellar, I don't have to see these people for at least 10 more years. Thanks everyone! I'll let you all know how it goes!

[sonicfan287]

So, as promised, I'll tell you how last night went.

 

It was fantastic

 

I actually kind of forgot (not because they weren't memorable) some people who I did interact with who were happy to see me and vice versa. It was great striking up conversations with almost everyone, even people I didn't interact much with in high school. I know this isn't exactly something new I learned, but when you get older, it doesn't really matter what "clique" you were in, everybody becomes equal and it was a blast. Many people had husbands/wives, some of them had more exciting stories than others in their 10 years but all in all, the topic of my love life or career rarely, if ever came up and I was able to laugh it up with a lot of familiar faces.

 

The strangest part of all though was I overcame my fear of dancing and was one of the first on the floor. I learned something very profound last night -- almost nobody in my class can dance! Lol! Doesn't mean it wasn't a lot of fun though but I was always so self conscious in high school about getting on the floor to dance because I figured everyone was experts at it and I would look foolish but I fit right in, even when I was dancing with some of the people who knew what they were doing. I even danced with some cute girls I never would have had a shot with back in the day.

 

So yeah, all in all I was really glad I was able to go and went through with it. Thank you all for being so supportive, as always