Preconceived notions

This week has been one of dispelling first impressions. I met someone recently, made a judgement based on previous experience with similar people, steeled myself for our next encounter, predicting how the person would behave and how I would respond and how I wouldn't let my emotions get the best of me, and what do you know, this person has turned out to be a lovely, if challenging human being! Who would'a thunk it?
But before I give myself too hard a time for pre-judging, I do believe that by thinking ahead and armoring myself with enough personal power to withstand whatever this individual threw at me (again, gleaning from past experience), I was more than ready for the situation. And in the first few moments of our second encounter, I could feel the testing, the feeling around for boundaries, and having established them firmly and with clear focus, I was able to set the tone. And how glad I am that I did.
We learn as we go. Just today I had a conversation with a young person who had gotten into a rather precarious situation last night, and as the young adult explained away what had happened, I said in response, "Well, at least you've learned something." We learn from our failures much more than from our successes, and in the case of this young person, lots of lessons were learned, with no one injured or arrested, which is always a nice thing...
I'm learning that while my first impressions may not be completely accurate in judgement of a person's future behavior, my instincts are always useful in dealing with new people. But what a pleasure when my negative first assessment of someone turns out to be far from the truth, and I'm surprised to discover the blossoming of a new friendship.
Happy weekend to all.