Remember when, a long time ago, someone told you that first
impressions are everything? Guess what, they are. In this day and age, people
are quick to base their opinions on just about anything on their initial
experience (i.e. first impression).
Let me
state here that there are so many paths to take on this subject, however, I’m
going to limit my comments to your own first impression. The one you portray to
others.
If you don’t
want to be classified as a particular sort of person, or stereotyped, then you
should take care of how you portray yourself to others. Seriously, you’re
grown, right? Stop getting upset when people treat you a certain way. Stop and
look at yourself to figure out if the way people are treating you is directly affected
by the way you portray yourself. (I’m going to list examples here. If you find
yourself becoming offended, either stop reading or start taking a long hard
look at yourself.) If you don’t take pride in the way you look, for example,
people may take a first look at you and think that you’re a slob. (I’m not
saying we don’t have days where we just are a mess… if you catch me in Wal-Mart
on a Saturday, your reaction would probably be WTH!!) When people think of a
slob, they think lazy. When people think of lazy, they think you’re not willing
to put effort into anything. When people think this, there is a good chance
that you won’t be on the top of their list when they are looking for someone to
take charge and be a leader. Next in line… if you’re consistently seen with
appears to be a scowl on your face, regardless of the reason, people will tend
to think you’re a b…(I’m talking about myself here, lol). If people think this
of you, they aren’t likely to approach you for anything. End of story. If you
are someone that is consistently bragging about what you have and putting other
people down for not achieving what you have, people will believe you’re
arrogant. When people think arrogant, they think selfish. When people think
selfish, they think you’re not willing to do anything that will directly
benefit you therefore they will not come to you for anything. (This is a great
way to turn off someone you’re trying to impress…) Finally, and here is where
some of you will definitely get offended, if you don’t want people to associate
you with trash or thug… STOP for the love of humanity, dressing and behaving in
ways that feed into the stereotypes associated with such behavior.
I guess
what I’m trying to get at here is that if you don’t want to be a stereotype,
then stop using the stereotypes as an excuse to behave the way you do. Take
pride in who you are and what you have to offer society. Learn to be a
productive citizen of society. You start this process by really taking a long
look at who you are, who you want to be and how you’re presenting yourself to
others.As always, if you’re needing some help with this, I’m always happy to dish out free advice…
