I have a group of 6 friends (including me) who I’ve known since I was about 13. I met them through a youth group . I went to the same school as one of them, the other four went to two different schools in our hometown.
Out of the group I am the only one who isn’t academic. They all did A levels and got all A’s.
I didn’t get into the sixth form at my school to do a levels and was devastated, as they know. Instead, i went to college instead to train as a hairdresser. I soon found it really suited me and that I was glad I didn’t have to do exams any more.
They all went off to Russell Group unis to study Law, medicine, engineering and geography. I started working in a salon.
Now, 15 or so years later, I still live in our hometown. I really love working as a hairdresser. It’s the perfect fit for me and I earn a decent amount. They are all doctors/lawyers/engineers/teachers now, and live around the country, but we try to all meet up every 3-4 months.
That is really great, I love that their making the effort to keep up the friendship and they’re all such lovely people. The only issue is that I feel like they worry that I’m a bit jealous of them (I’m not), and try to play down their jobs/achievements/lives when they’re around me. They’ll go on about how lucky I am that I started working at 18, rather than at 22-23 like them, about what a head start I have professionally...
If I mention something that’s gone well for me, they all go on about how amazing it is.
One of them lives in central London in an amazing flat, but if I ask her what’s that like she goes on about pollution and crime. It’s like their constantly trying to make me feel better about my life.
There was a time when I wished I could have been clever and gone to university like them, but I’m over that now and I’m happy with my life. Do I need to have a conversation with them about this or should I just accept that there trying to be nice.