First Impressions

I don’t quite understand why people put so much stock on first impressions.

You make a judgement of that individual based on one, single moment. How can that be a basis for any sort of relationship? One moment can’t accurately represent anyone.

Just think: that person could be in a bad situation. Anxiety, anger, grief, pain. It seems rather heartless to decide you were disappointed and thence use that person’s vulnerability as the basis for future interactions.

Obviously our instincts can be right. (This is especially so with dating. No point wasting time on someone you see no hope with.) But with friendship and professional interactions, using the brain more than the heart seems sensible.

Obviously people do change their minds.

But most people say first impressions are important which makes the willingness to get to know someone a lot harder. It seems more practical to get to know someone because how can you like or dislike them if you know nothing about them?

Everyone should be given a chance to show who they are. If they continue to be unbearable then sure, they’re not for you, but there’s no way to know this before you interact with them more than the once that is a first impression.

So no, I dislike first impressions. If I paid them any attention, I wouldn’t have such close bonds with my friends (and, in all honesty, some family members) and my working relationships with others would be unbearably tense and full of annoyance. To rely on first impressions would have robbed me of many of my most precious memories. So no, I dislike first impressions and ignore them completely.