For a while now we have been told and have been saying first impressions matter. Which is true but also has a false side to it. Before I take you further into the forest, here is a story about the first encounter with my roommates at LPU.
So I walked into the room, found a bunch of folks and wasn’t really sure who my roommates were. Of course, all the attention shifted to me and their faces brightened up. It was a warm welcome and we went through the – What’s your name? And where are you from? – Process. After minutes some guys left and I was finally left with my roommates. Now here is the thing, the first few weeks I thought they were quite noisy and honestly I was annoyed. They kept asking me questions about Malawi (That’s where I’m from), my name and pretty much everything including my hair. Why have I been cursed with ear-splitting roommates?
You can’t really tell one’s character from your first encounter with them. First impressions can be based on a number of factors. There might be a reason to why the person is behaving in that way on that particular day or those particular days. In the story about my roommates, I later realized they were not as noisy, curiosity was just killing them.
We all have our days. Sometimes we wake up on the wrong side of the bed and have a bad attitude the whole day. In other days we are so positive and will give a wonderful first impression.
Others might be going through a terrible phase of life and end up treating us badly due to poor reasoning and all that. However that’s not who they really are, they are just not feeling very well that day.
One can always choose to show you what you want to see as well. If you’re expecting a polite being, I can give you that polite attitude while I’m usually rude. So if you fully depend on the first impression, you are likely to be surprised someday.
There so many things that can build a first impression. All in all, I’m just saying that if you really want to know someone give them time. The first encounter may give you an idea of who they’re but it might not be so true. What to know them? Spend more time with them.
