You're An Odd Little Human, Now Aren't You?

First impressions are kind of a big deal, don't you think?  You almost always remember your first impression of someone, even if you had it horribly wrong you will remember what it was and laugh later.  I'm sure you can all think of someone who has had that impact on you where there was an instant connection or just someone who made you feel completely comfortable in the first round of meeting.  What is it about them?  Or is it all relative to the person?  The person I feel is this immediate kindred spirit, wouldn't go far with someone else?

I love asking friends later what their first impression of me was.  It's not necessarily always good, but I like to know so I can hopefully improve and become like those people I admire for their excellent first impressions.  And I'm not about wanting everyone to like me, because I know not everyone will or does.  I don't care for some people either.  So we're even.

This might come in handy! =)
{via}

First impressions, I have come to learn, are not always accurate.  It's funny now that some of my closest friends at the moment actually took some time to develop.  I knew some friends for awhile, but never really got to know them well until one day we realized something.

Hey, I don't have friends.


I don't have friends, either.


Why don't we be friends? 


That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  Why didn't we realize this sooner?

One of my good friends in Malaysia was there for months before we actually did anything together, based solely on our horrible first impressions of each other.  She thought I was a stuck up snob.  I thought she had an attitude.  I was influenced by what others thought and didn't really give her a chance. Months later, we went out for drinks and that was it.  We were inseparable everyday thereafter down to the day we flew back to the States.  We practically lived at her house.  It was a sad goodbye!  There again, we wasted such precious time.

I often wonder how many friendships I might be possibly overlooking just based on first impressions.  Yet, friendships are so hard to maintain and take so much time and effort.  Sometimes I feel like I don't even want to bother with it. We are all stuck in this Catch-22 of wanting and needing friends, but not having the time to cultivate them.  Or maybe that's just me.  Especially those ones that aren't essentially automatic.  At the same time, I'm not so desperate for friends that if I don't have fun at all or don't enjoy their company, I will do something just to be with people.  Ahh well.

I think moving around quite a bit has helped me be pretty comfortable with meeting new people.  I still have a lot to learn.  Maybe the next trip/move will help me fine tune it.  It's exciting to think of all the new friendships to be made.

What was/is your first impression of me?  Or what's your take on first impressions in general?