Why Reunions Can Be Good for You
September 15, 2026
“Sometimes reconnecting with our past can be surprisingly good for the present.”
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In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading back to Pittsburgh for a high school reunion. I’m looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in decades, swapping stories and undoubtedly discovering that some of our memories don’t match quite as well as we think they do. But I’ve also wondered whether reunions serve a purpose beyond nostalgia. As it turns out, there is some interesting psychology behind reconnecting with people who were part of our earlier lives.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on social connection, the quality and strength of our relationships are important contributors to both individual and community health. The long-running Harvard Study of Adult Development has reached a similar conclusion: strong relationships and social connections are closely associated with happiness and health across adulthood. Research by psychologists Constantine Sedikides, Tim Wildschut and their colleagues has also found that nostalgia can strengthen feelings of social connectedness and what researchers call “self-continuity”—the sense that the person we were years ago remains connected to the person we are today.
There may be a business lesson here as well. Careers have a way of encouraging us to constantly look forward—to the next client, opportunity, promotion or venture. Yet reconnecting with people from our past can remind us of something easily forgotten in business: relationships have value that can’t always be measured on a spreadsheet. A reunion isn’t a networking event, and it shouldn’t be treated like one. But renewing an old friendship, listening to someone else’s journey and maintaining relationships over decades reinforces many of the same qualities that matter in business—trust, perspective, empathy and genuine human connection. Sometimes looking backward isn’t about living in the past. It’s about remembering where we came from and perhaps returning to the present with a little better understanding of what really matters.
The Takeaway: Success is measured by more than what we build professionally. The relationships we build—and maintain—along the way may ultimately be among our most valuable assets.
