Lasting Impressions?

Everybody in the world has made an impression on someone or something at some point in their lives. These past few weeks have been huge (in my world anyway…) for making impressions. So I propose the question once you’ve made your impression on someone’s life can you ever really change it?

The first few days of school, no matter where you go, everyone is trying to make a good impression on all their fellow classmates and especially on their teachers. This makes sense seeing as you are about to be forced to spend at least the next year or so with these people and you don’t want to be that one person nobody really likes. But as the week goes on the people start to change and you start to see their true selves coming out, everyone had been all dressed up for the first few days then jeans and sweats start to make their appearances. We all seem to feel the need to be our absolute best at the beginning but then it starts to fade. Does all that dressing up and stuff we do to make us appear to be who we want others to think we are really last?

A few weeks ago I would have said that people are going to remember who you have been and that impressions can be changed, but I’m starting to reconsider my answer.

I along with everyone else get all dolled up to try and make a good first impression. I spent hours trying to figure out what to wear that first day and if my hair was good enough. I mean what would people think of me if my make-up wasn’t quite right? But I also very quickly decided that after a few days I was done dressing up and I was going to pull out the jeans and sweater. Hoping that I had already made a good enough impression that I could now become the comfortable student who doesn’t have time to put on her make-up in hopes of a few extra minutes of precious sleep.

I have started to realize that my first few impressions of people do not seem to change that much. If the impression is good I seem to make excuses for them when they do something mean or wrong. They must be having an off day. But if they make a bad impression, I have trouble ever really liking them regardless of what they do. I mean of course there are odd cases where I have changed my mind but actually taking the time to look at it impressions seem to be a big deal…. At least for me.

Now here’s the other part to this, can you ever really change your feeling after a really bad situational impression has been impressed on you?

A while back I was driving with my boyfriend, Dave and we were having on of those serious type talks about actually moving in together. Now first I just want to point out that he started this conversation. Anyway so we start seriously discussing it and decide that seeing as it really is a big decision we should both take some time to think about it. So we both give it a few days and then the topic comes up again only this time the conversation has a completely different tone. We both had decided that it was not the right time for either of us, me just starting the CreComm program and he had some issues to work out. A few years ago he had moved in with his girlfriend at the time and they broke up not long after they signed the lease, causing months of problems for the both of them. He said that he didn’t want that to happen again if we moved in together.

Now I am left thinking back on it and wondering if I have trouble getting over first impressions about the people I meet, how does one get over situational impressions such as that one? Is it even possible to fully get over impressions or do they last a lot longer then even we thought they do? Maybe to some effect people never fully get over impressions, I mean I know you can push them aside and move on but maybe your first few impressions really do leave a lasting mark.