My OperaAttitude Defines Your Reunion Experience
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 2:19:01 PM
When reunion time comes around it can either be very fun and fulfilling or it can be highly stressful. While most people blame the reunion itself for their experience, the entertainment, the venue, the food, and even the personalities of your classmates have very little to do with it. The difference between those who enjoy school reunions and those who hate them is, more than anything, the attitude they bring with them.
Most reunions are pretty similar because reunion planners don’t have a lot of choices available to them. The planning committee always has its hands tied financially. They don’t have a lot of venues available to them. They have to be pretty conservative when it comes to the menu and the entertainment. And any time a planner suggests something original, it’s going to get shot down by a bunch of critics.
As a result, you can walk into almost any reunion and find the same thing. It will take place in a large venue, such as a school auditorium, a hotel ballroom, a service club facility, or a church. There will be food, most likely served from a buffet. There will be a bar, and a few of the attendees will be clinging to it like a life support machine. And there will be some (inexpensive) DJ probably spinning the top hits of the period commemorated by the reunion.
Some people in that environment will be having a great time interacting with their classmates. Others will be having a terrible time. The ones who are enjoying themselves will all have walked in with a real interest in reconnecting with people they knew back in the day, and the ones who aren’t having a good time will have walked in uncomfortable, insecure, and socially restricted.
Problematically, most people spend their time preparing for a reunion thinking about themselves. They polish up their life narrative. They figure out how to tell their story to make themselves look good. And the more focus they put on themselves the more insecure they become about their lives. Even successful people start seeing more disappointment than success when they spend too much time looking at their lives.
A healthier way to prepare for your next reunion is to think about other people. Pull out an old yearbook and identify a number of people who you haven’t kept up with. Plan to reconnect with those people. Find them on a social network so you’ll recognize them. Do your best to remember interactions you had with them during your time at school.
When you show up at your reunion, make it your mission to seek these people out and find out about them. It doesn’t matter who they are. Flattery is a universal door-opener, and if you walk up to a stranger and show a genuine interest in getting to know them they will respond positively. As a result, you’ll enjoy the reunion more, and so will they.
A focus on other people is, in general, what separates those who enjoy their school reunions from those who don't enjoy them. That focus is the foundation of the kind of attitude that makes a reunion fun because it eliminates the discomfort and insecurity that stems from focusing on yourself.
Check out this Website for more information!
Most reunions are pretty similar because reunion planners don’t have a lot of choices available to them. The planning committee always has its hands tied financially. They don’t have a lot of venues available to them. They have to be pretty conservative when it comes to the menu and the entertainment. And any time a planner suggests something original, it’s going to get shot down by a bunch of critics.
As a result, you can walk into almost any reunion and find the same thing. It will take place in a large venue, such as a school auditorium, a hotel ballroom, a service club facility, or a church. There will be food, most likely served from a buffet. There will be a bar, and a few of the attendees will be clinging to it like a life support machine. And there will be some (inexpensive) DJ probably spinning the top hits of the period commemorated by the reunion.
Some people in that environment will be having a great time interacting with their classmates. Others will be having a terrible time. The ones who are enjoying themselves will all have walked in with a real interest in reconnecting with people they knew back in the day, and the ones who aren’t having a good time will have walked in uncomfortable, insecure, and socially restricted.
Problematically, most people spend their time preparing for a reunion thinking about themselves. They polish up their life narrative. They figure out how to tell their story to make themselves look good. And the more focus they put on themselves the more insecure they become about their lives. Even successful people start seeing more disappointment than success when they spend too much time looking at their lives.
A healthier way to prepare for your next reunion is to think about other people. Pull out an old yearbook and identify a number of people who you haven’t kept up with. Plan to reconnect with those people. Find them on a social network so you’ll recognize them. Do your best to remember interactions you had with them during your time at school.
When you show up at your reunion, make it your mission to seek these people out and find out about them. It doesn’t matter who they are. Flattery is a universal door-opener, and if you walk up to a stranger and show a genuine interest in getting to know them they will respond positively. As a result, you’ll enjoy the reunion more, and so will they.
A focus on other people is, in general, what separates those who enjoy their school reunions from those who don't enjoy them. That focus is the foundation of the kind of attitude that makes a reunion fun because it eliminates the discomfort and insecurity that stems from focusing on yourself.
Check out this Website for more information!
