 Laugh at yourself
The more you can laugh at how much of a rookie you used to be, the easier it gets. I run into people I knew in high school all the time; being able to talk with them and laugh with them about my social awkwardness growing up not only helps reset the dynamics of our relationship, but it helps reinforce the break between my old self and who I am today.
As an aside, I'd say that about 80-90% of the people I interview say they felt like outsiders in high school. Even if it's clear I'm talking to someone who was the ringleader of one group or another, s/he will nearly always express how s/he felt like the misfit of the group. That knowledge has helped me stop worrying about what I was like back in the day, since it means that odds are, whomever I am talking to is just as concerned about their own past as I am about mine. |