Cost of Progression…

I did it! I took the plunge and went to my high school reunion. It was better than I thought. People were very friendly, it was nice catching up with some, and overall it was a decent way to spend the evening. In the midst of it all I realized that most things had not changed. Everyone, whether they were reverting back or never really changed at all, was exactly the same. The pretentious snobs were still pretentious and snobby. The annoying people were still annoying. The thing that really changed the most was me. Maybe it was the fact that I have matured and grown into my skin. Maybe I have a confidence that I was lacking in high school. Whatever it was, I seemed to see everything so much clearer now. I used to look for some sort of approval or acceptance with the pretentious snobby people and be fearful of being associated with the annoying ones. For the first time I realized that those two categories of people were more alike than I was with either. The pretentious snobs are masquerading as the image of someone superior or better than the average because they are fearful that someone will actually see them for who they really are which may in fact be someone inferior to everyone else. With my maturity I have gained a new empathy for the annoying people. If you think about what makes them annoying, it’s usually something about their personality that’s awkward or uncomfortable. I now realize that they act that way as a result of being insecure. Sure, the pretentious people are actually behaving the way they do out of insecurity too. But the pretentious ones are doing it at the cost of making others feel bad. The annoying people just don’t know how to rise above their insecurities to become secure in a circumstance. Maybe that circumstance is just being put back in a high school scenario, maybe those people are confident, successful people in their own lives. Maybe I could have been that person if I didn’t have the confidence to rise above and walk into the reunion with my head held high. Maybe I wouldn’t have had that confidence if life didn’t lead me down the road of marriage, motherhood, successful career, etc. Either way, I had a new found respect for the annoying people that probably were annoying because they were uncomfortable and still put themselves out there knowing it was not a comfortable position for them to be in. Ultimately that was why I went to the reunion too. I knew that it would probably be fun in the end but a large portion of me thought it would be uncomfortable in the beginning and wasn’t sure if it was worth subjecting myself to that discomfort. I have always been under the belief that nobody should react out of fear, and if I hadn’t gone then that was what I would have been doing. So at the end of the day, I grew as a person by merely stepping foot in the door. And at the end of the night, I grew as a person by not letting the pretentious snobs tear me down, not letting the annoying people frustrate me and just enjoying the night as a confident, successful person that I am. Instead of my fear of regressing, I think I progressed which was more than I ever anticipated in buying the $80 ticket.