Thanks for sharing Ben. This is a lesson we can all use to improve how we look at things.I'm really not sure how I feel about my reunion. Completely worth it to find out some truths, and I really appreciated finding out that girls didn't hate me for how I looked, but finding out they all hated me for how I acted because of how I thought they all hated me because of my looks wasn't great.
As a postscript, some years after the Amanda disaster, we met outside school at a youth club disco and slow danced for a few songs at the end of the night with nobody staring at us. We never dared to kiss or really talk and just went back to being really shy and too scared of each other, but it's a better, and happier ending than the reunion might suggest. We had one moment!
our own perceptions can hold us back and being aware that other people may see things differently opens the door to more possibilities in moving forward.