Don't go to the reunion. Problem solved.

Quit comparing yourself to others.

Do you have the career you want? The life you want? Close enough?

You're better off than most.

Their "accomplishments" are physical compensation for the miserable lives they living inside their hearts.

That's what I tell friends when I take them to see the houses in Beverly Hills.

it only leads to anxiety.

I used to have a really bad habit of comparing myself to others who I saw as more successful in life than myself. You know what that eventually led to? I big ole nervous breakdown before I hit 30! After getting some help, I'm finally putting the lid on these thoughts. When I do feel the need to compare myself to others, I just think whether what they have or are doing are things that I would want? Most of the time the answer is no!

I've come to accept I am who I am, and now I'm mostly satisfied with that. On most days I'm happy and satisfied with my life, and if I felt the need to make changes, I'll do it for me and not because of what others think. Even though these people have won awards and have fancy degrees doesn't mean that their lives are perfect. Maybe some are in unhappy relationships or have health problems? You don't know, because you only see the exterior.

You know, I have several friends who've are doing very well with their careers. The funny thing is that a couple of them said that they're envious of me at times because I live a much more free-spirited, bohemian life than they do! I guess we all sometimes think the grass is greener on the other side.

Anyways, don't go to your reunion if you think it'll only get you down. You can't measure your own personal success with others. It's only futile anyways. Life is too short to chase after other people's dreams...

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. We all run at different speeds at different times, and we all hit bad patches and good ones. If you want to achieve things, you've got plenty of time to do so.

I've also got overachieving high-school classmates, but all of the ones I've kept in touch with have had their ups and downs, as have I - periods of unemployment, periods of high achievement, periods of depression, all sorts of things. It's just life. I would have felt very very comfortable at my 5th high school reunion, and not so comfortable at my 10th (I didn't go to either one).

Just relax, and go in order to keep in touch with old friends (assuming these are, in fact, old friends). And if you don't care about these people, don't go. Why waste time?

Go and have a good time! Most people won't be in interview mode, not like you are worrying about. They'll be reliving glory days, dancing, eating, drinking. Go and laugh! The mean girls may be a little subdued, the jerk guys may be humbled, and you may reconnect with some interesting people. You may find some pleasant surprises.

I did.

There's always someone smarter, richer, better looking, or more accomplished with whom your psyche will ambush you. ESPECIALLY at graduation reunions. College reunions are even worse.

So don't go.

I suspect that most people have some sort of status anxiety, if not for their present status, then for their past status. Hell, if you dig deep enough, everyone's got SOMETHING that wakes them at 4:00 a.m. and makes them want to beat their heads against the wall in mortification.

That's how you feel right now. Feel it, then focus on the list you provided in your letter and keep focusing on the direction in which you want to go.

Go or no go, don't beat yourself up, guilt trip yourself, or batter yourself with shoulds. I don't think Everest is very nice this time of year, if you're minded to Trek; but I'm sure you can find someplace more interesting to go than your reunion.

If they're really "high achievers," they're not worried about status -- theirs or yours.

Let every man be respected as an individual and no an idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and respect from my fellows through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the one or two ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle.

is the only important status. seriously.

"Have you seen the lives these people live?"

That's just jealous crap talking. They live perfectly fine lives--for them.

Your life is your life. Don't even try to compare it to anyone else's life--even Cary's.

Who cares if you're not short-listed for the Nobel, the Pulitzer, the Brooker? You have a specific purpose here. Figure it out and get on with it.

Do what needs to be done.

at least a little bit. I didn't want to go to my 10th reunion because I was single. I would have gone to my 20th because,although I was married, I was now fat, but also really pregnant, which was good camouflage. Now, if I went to my 25th, well, crap, I'm still fat.....

But anyway.... One thing I realized soon after I graduated from high school was that, once those caps hit the ground, people seemed to feel freer, and every high school classmate I've run into since then has been nicer and more fun to talk to than they ever were when we were locked into our teenage roles. And because people tend to love to talk about themselves, I learned a lot about the difficulties they've faced. Like the other poster said, it really is just life. And they're just people. Their toilets clog like everyone else's. Chances are, they don't think they're as special as you imagine they do. They'll be glad to see you. You'll be glad to talk to them, and you'll have a good time. And if someone turns out to be a pompous jerk, you can trash him/her with your boyfriend on the way home.

Go ahead and go. You'll have more fun than you think.