Dear Prudie,
My 32-year-old boyfriend is a great guy—cute, funny, smart, and loving. However, he is unhappy because he hasn't achieved success in his field. It's a hyper-competitive industry, known as “the industry” around here, and he works in a retail job he hates in order to make a living. A guy he went to school with has achieved massive success due to a project he created while in school (my boyfriend helped him perfect it in class, but they were never close). Now whenever that guy's name comes up, or he achieves more success, it sends my boyfriend into a downward spiral of depression. It breaks my heart to see him unhappy like this. I can't believe how much power he lets this successful guy have over him (the classmate hasn’t responded to my boyfriend’s emails for years). I honestly don't know if he will ever make it in this industry. He will almost certainly never make it the way his schoolmate did. How can I help him to help himself accept this and find happiness anyway? I am also trying to break into the same industry, with somewhat more success than my boyfriend is having, but seeing my schoolmates and peers make it just doesn't affect me the same way.