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Welcome everyone and pull up a seat at the table. It’s Lunchtime in Rome. Tonight’s episode 256 is titled “Back to School.”  How are you different EMOTIONALLY now compared to when you were in school?  How much would it have helped the younger you?  We'll be talking about that at The Table this evening.

Pull up a seat at the table and join us!

Christina Madden

I was very conscious of other people's opinions of me. I had 2 friends. Not big groups. I was not "popular". Kids are often cruel to one another and even at 54 (ouch) I can still remember those feelings of not being liked. Now that I am "older" (again, ouch) I learned to be comfortable in my own skin. Yes, I like the idea of being liked, but it's more important to me that I'm a good person and that I'm passing that on to my kids.

Laurie Ann Klingler Bonine

I felt like I lived in the shadow of my perfect brother. (Captain of the debate team, National Honor Society, accelerated classes with straight A’s) Teachers compared me to him so I chose to NOT be like him. It affected my life due to bad emotionally charged choices. It has had a life long effect on my relationship with my brother.

If I could go back and talk to me: I would tell myself that I am smart enough and brave enough to just be myself. Make choices for my future not to prove anything to anyone but me. I am enough.

Now, I choose to lift up others who feel they are not enough so they can see how awesome they are. To step out of the shadows.

Becky Kress Fenoglietto

I thought that I was the least-liked person in school. I envied classmates who always seemed to be on the inside, comfortably surrounded by their friend groups. Thanks to Facebook, I connected with some of these women, some I hadn’t been all that close to in school. At dinner one night, we discovered that each of us felt like we were on the outside looking in. Incredible. It has led to some really nice adult friendships. It also gave me the insight to help my boys navigate their teen years (Yes, boys have it tough as well.).

Christie Frachioni

When I was in school, I wasn't able to step outside of my personal bubble to truly see what others were going through. It was all about ME. Not in a selfish way. But I simply lacked to ability to be truly empathic. It took a handful of unpleasant "life experiences" for me to look outside of myself and actually SEE others. To appreciate THEIR needs, problems, and struggles. No longer in the way of how those things directly affected me, but how they existed separately from me. It was a gradual evolution for me that happened over the course of several years, but it was life changing.

I look back now and see how much more I could've helped the people I loved get through really challenging times. Specifically, one thing that comes to mind, is when I was in my early 20s, my grandmother regularly asked me to take my grandfather to adult day care. I tried to get up early enough to do that, but I was waiting tables at the time and often didn't get home until 1a-3a. I would frequently oversleep and she'd have to find someone else. At the time, I found her request an annoyance. I thought, "Didn't she realize that I'd only be getting 4-5 hours of sleep by taking him that early?" It wasn't until years later that I understood that she wouldn't have asked me unless she absolutely had to. And, now, of course, I feel awful about brushing it off. However, I had to get here on my own terms; it was absolutely a learning process. I was simply UNABLE to see HER NEED at the time.

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