This will tell you how old I am not.

I was a little shocked to find that two of President Obama's speechwriters are 27 and 31 years old, respectively.

Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, is 31, or perhaps just turned 32. He celebrated a birthday on AirForceOne very recently. On the White House's LinkedIn page, Ben Rhodes has a little video where he talks about going to China on AirForce One. I first clicked on the video (might not be able to get into it without a LinkedIn account) thinking that the image of the very young looking man was something else, but no, it was Ben Rhodes, looking and sounding quite young - to me.

My over-achiever complex kicks in, right around the gut. This ingrained desire to achieve thing is crazy making. Obviously, relatively very few people, of any age, can get onto a flight with the President, but when one begins to feel the overachiever complex start up with a direct age comparison, well...it calls into question a few things.

The first reaction is, "I'm behind!" and "I'm not achieving enough." This is an immediate and direct comparison borne of years and years of being taught competitiveness. Let's call this part of self Miss Stress Monkey.

The second reaction then is "What am I doing wrong?" Stress Monkey has called in Eeyore, the lamenter, depression-addict. We have worked hard at knowing when Eeyore starts pulling, and knowing that going anyplace with Eeyore SUCKS, and since we don't have any desire to go down with Eeyore, we call in -

Miss Realistic: "His background and mine are completely different."

"What other way could I be achieving something equivalent, or at least something just plain satisfying within the context of my background?" The Planner/Strategizer.

"Wait. Stop. Craziness. Everyone is on their own path for a reason. Everyone's path has to be unique. Ben Rhodes probably didn't perform Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with an orchestra at age 17. " (OK, so little Miss Competitive gets her jab in.) This is the Voice of Reason, sometimes known as the Wise Woman. Breaking into the downward spiral of anxiety and self-criticism, the V.o.R. makes it clear that we have our own set of circumstances, a very specific life with our own senses creating our very own set of sensory input, and creating our very own specific set of emotions. Ben Rhodes has very little to do with my being in the here and now. Instead, I have everything to do with what is happening inside my head right now. I can choose.

"What are my goals?" Reintegrate all the parts and refocus. "However I ended up on my path, at least I'm not in the Sarah Palin camp." Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

That really puts it into perspective - Ben Rhodes, wunderkind, versus Sarah Palin, representative of blight on the collective American psyche. This brings up other questions (the value of the achievements of a 31-year old speechwriter versus those of a mid-40s celebrity figure), but suffice to say, the above internal interaction is a decent method for dealing with the unpleasant feelings of jealousy and anxiety that the overachiever complex always brings forward.

End self therapy session today. whew.