Welcome back, you helpful hecklers! Last week, we gave the urge to interrupt a few creative outlets. Did you let someone hijack your story long enough to improve it? Did you erase enough promises from your junk mail to uncover something you would actually enjoy? Perhaps you composed a little music by leaving something out. I hope the use of a purposeful detour gave you a few minutes just for yourself. Sometimes getting in our own way is how we find another way forward.
Our creative nudge this week arrives with a smile, an extended hand, and possibly something stuck in its teeth - the first impression - that moment we meet somebody or somewhere new and begin deciding what to make of it. There is considerable pressure packed into the idea that we get one chance to make a good first impression.
Try this experiment. Find someone over 40, ask them how to make a good first impression. I bet you will hear mostly variations of “stand up straight” and “make eye contact” and most importantly, “offer a firm handshake.” Maybe this is why meeting someone new feels like an audition for the chance to play yourself.
Online, we have a little more control over the optics. We choose an AI enhanced selfie, pore over which emoji/punctuation/gif combo sets the right vibe, and share, share, share. We get just as much as we give in the digital world.
Impressions come at us according to the maximum daily allowance; all of them need your hot take…put down that work you’re doing and impress those holographic strangers that literally appeared out of thin air! Then circle back in a few hours to see what they’re saying about you.
Growing older gives me more opportunities to revisit an impression and find that experience changes what I think. First impressions deserve our attention, but making time for the next one gives our curiosity somewhere to stretch out a little.
When I have my writing students create an essay about a place they’ve visited, I ask them to visit the place at least twice. Why? While a first impression might be exciting and stimulating, that second, third, and fourth impression add the depth and nuance a first impression lacks.
Our memories of those moments change with time. What we remember is informed by everything that follows. Revisiting gives us a chance to notice what we expected, where those expectations came from and what time adds to this calculation we’re always doing in our head.
Take a few minutes to introduce yourself to one or more of these creative encounters:
- Plate Expectations: Serve the same familiar snack on two different dishes. Use spacing, stacking or a garnish to make one look extravagant and the other practical. Smell and taste both. Notice whether presentation influences your anticipation or enjoyment. You’ve made a tiny edible exhibition.
- Second Edition: Think of someone whose company you have come to enjoy. Give your first encounter a chapter title, then title a later moment that complicated or enriched it. Write a paragraph that could connect the two. Leave your characters something about each other still to discover.
- Sight Unseen: Give a nearby park, shop or library a brief audition as a movie location. Let its first sound, color or temperature suggest the genre. Invent a title that makes people watch the trailer.
- Sound Off: Listen to an unfamiliar song. Let its first fifteen seconds suggest a shape on paper. Keep listening, adding marks as new sounds arrive. Does your first shape still belong? Make your page a score someone could follow with finger movements, even if neither of you can read music.
- Future Shock: Write a short online introduction for yourself ten years from now. Include something a new friend might enjoy discovering, such as your excellent pigeon calls or your opinion about socks with sandals. Read it aloud as that future person. Are you not impressed?
- Unfolding Mystery: Make a folded paper sculpture with an ordinary exterior and a surprising interior. Try an accordion fold, a tiny staircase or a sudden burst of color. Open it slowly, letting each fold introduce another feature.
A good first impression can give us a reason to continue. What follows can give us more reasons, including a few we couldn’t have anticipated. This week, make a small introduction, revisit an old one or let a familiar place show you another side. Give those impressions something creative to do. We may even find ourselves pleased to meet someone we thought we already knew.
This column was written with help from ChatGPT, a collaborator whose enthusiasm for everything takes some getting used to.
