First Impressions

First Impressions. According to Wikipedia,a first impression is the mental image a person forms of another person after their first encounter. When Jetpack gave this prompt today, it really got me thinking.

What’s the first impression you want to give people? Do I really want to give an impression when I am first meeting a person. I guess if it was up to me, I would like people to think of me as a witty and fun person.

But unfortunately, I have heard from many acquaintances, that on first meeting me, I come off as an arrogant snobbish and uppity person. The first time somebody told me this I was really shocked. Then I did some self analysis. The fact is, I was very introverted and shy as a child. That combined with several traumatic events, minor as well as bullying events, turned me from my introverted nature to the apparently arrogant nature. I am extremely wary of new people, and that is reflected in my behaviour. Even though from the inside, I may be wanting them to like me and be friendly, but outwardly I may appear to be stand offish.

I have tried very hard to get over the past traumas and shared them with very few close people. Most have been very supportive and given me strength, a few have blamed me for the events that happened with me. In those instances, I realised, some pain is only ours to bear and fight through. Sharing that pain does not decrease it, and in some cases may be harmful even.

So I would like to end with a quote by David Handler . ” I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong”

“This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter.”