High school reunion....three words that can cause excitement or strike fear in a person. My 20 year reunion was last night, and I felt a mixture of those feelings. I remember when I started my weight loss journey in 2010, thinking that for SURE I'd have reached my goal weight before my 20 year reunion in 2014! 4 years, no problem, right? Well, as it got closer and I realized that I would NOT be at goal or even close, I started really stressing and beating myself up. In turn, I engaged in some serious self-sabotage and GAINED about 15 pounds back right before the reunion. I know, it makes no sense, but that's how I roll. I tried on outfit after outfit trying to find just the right thing to make me look as thin and perfect as I imagined every other woman there would look. I worried I'd be critiqued and judged by my former peers. Well, I got to the family barbecue lunch, looked around and started visiting with old classmates. I found myself having a blast, approaching people who may not have given me the time of day 20 years ago and feeling fine about myself. I realized that no one was judging me at all! I talked to one person who was "popular" in high school that admitted to feeling insecure coming to the reunion. Unbelievable! I wasn't the only one. Some of us gained some weight, some of the men were bald....I realized, FINALLY, that we all change and we all have our insecurities. I certainly wasn't judging what anyone else looked like, and I'm sure no one gave my appearance a second thought. Why did I stress myself out for so many months about this? I guess the lesson that I finally learned, 20 years after graduating from high school was that it truly doesn't matter what others think of me. What is important is what *I* think of me.
