Impressions
You may have noticed I tend to be a tad sarcastic. Sometimes. Or basically pretty much every time I open my mouth, but whatever.
Take that sarcasm, add a big dollop of natural cynicism, and sometimes you get snark.
Trust me, I love snark.
Let’s admit it, it’s fun to poke fun at each other, ourselves, our husbands, our families, ourselves, our kids and… OH YEAH, ourselves!
I also make snap judgments.
This past week I attended the Blissdom conference, and met so so so so many people. And so so so so many of them were awesome. Like an ice cream cone on a summer’s day awesome. You know, when it’s a bazillion degrees out, and you ONLY get a cone because your kid wants one (BWAA HA HA) and you take that first lick and it dribbles all over your hand but you don’t care because you are enjoying it so much? That is how I felt about the people I met at Blissdom.
But there were a few who gave me a jolt. Surprised me… Weren’t at all like I thought they would be.
And I spent a few minutes snarking to myself. WOW. So and so didn’t remember me after we had that FASCINATING 3-line twitter exchange 6 months ago. WHAT. THE. CRAP.
Then I was sitting in a corner last night with a long, long, long-time online friend Amy Turn Sharp. I am not joking when I tell you, we looked at each other at almost exactly the same time, and commented on how many wonderful people we have met through social media. Not just “people we have met” – but FRIENDS.
And I started thinking through my “jolts” from the week. What if that person had just talked to their kid and was missing them terribly, thus distracted? What if that person was overwhelmed by the 700 people in attendance (just like I was)? What if they simply weren’t feeling well?
And I thought back to other conferences, when I’d had previous “jolts” but went on to listen more, try again, and ended up finding something really special?
Not to say I am one to chase a dream, but I suppose, as I get older, I am more willing to let the jolts pass by and see if they are truly lightning I want to avoid … or possibly? Maybe?
It’s a beautiful electrical storm I will really enjoy watching.
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Interesting post.
I was thinking about someone that I think I blew off at BlogHer last year. I was having one of my OMG!ANXIETY! moments and I didn’t realize until two days later that I just kind of nodded and smiled instead of saying, “OMG!HI!” Oops. I’m pretty sure more of those happened as I had a few more moments of overwhelm, but I hope people understand.
Glad to hear you’ve had a wonderful time.
so here with you {always friend} xo
loved being with you at blissdom! and, man, can i relate to this post!
i am pretty sure you would like me if we ever met in real life.
but i am the most scatterbrained person when it comes to meeting people, and it usually takes me about 6 seconds to register who i’m talking to and how i know them. i’m that girl who’s all, “oh hi. i’m good, how are you? OH WAIT, OMG, YOU’RE AIMEE!!! HOLY SHIT! HIIIIIIII!” heh.
Really great points, Aimee. I have never attended a blogging conference – but same is true in life! – m
Love this post. You and I have had so many conversations on both sides of this fence and I love seeing the growth in your words. This is a practice I have been trying to build in my life and I love it. What if we come upon something we weren’t expecting? Can the experience still be beautiful? YES!
I’ve these same thoughts. That what if the first impression wasn’t all that perfect, do I take it at face value or do I bust that adage and give people a 2nd chance to make that first impression.
I try to. We’re all imperfectly ourselves and sometimes life gets in the way of us allowing our awesomeness to shine.
Thank you for all your kind words and your honest feedback.
I agree with the others – this is true for everything – not just conferences!
I was at Blissdom—totally relate and wish we’d met. I, too, like a little snark.
I had similar thoughts at the conference. I know that I was a bit off-putting on a couple of occasions at the conference, but at both times I was caught while distracted and did not intend to appear disinterested or forgetful AT ALL.
When we only get to see each other face-to-face maybe once a year, if that, it’s so easy to put too much weight on one incidence.
I relate to this in several ways. I felt overwhelmed on an hourly basis at Blissdom and needed to take down time in my hotel room to regroup and get my game face back on. The social aspect of social media conventions make me feel very unsocial at times.
On the flip side, it is interesting meeting people who you have read for a long time. In a sense you feel as if you know them, but it can be a onesided relationship and it’s easy to forget that they don’t know you!
Also, how the heck did we not meet? Or maybe we did and I was just out of it 😉
Great post – a reminder to let us all allow each other our humanity. It’s much easier and less fallible than mind-reading.
Heather
http://www.unconditionalpeople.blogspot.com
Love this. I have caught myself worrying over whether or not I may have at times appeared distracted and not present at Blissdom. Or, at times in my excitement gone on just a bit too much. I was thrilled at all the amazing people I met. It was overwhelming. It always is, I think. How can you put so many amazing dynamic creative powerful interesting and perhaps tired..women in the room and not have an “electric storm”? Hopefully we can all give each other and ourselves a peak of sunshine…a little grace. ~Chris Ann
This is so true. I have to keep reminding myself, and not just at social media events, not to put my own layers, my own filters on things. That my perception of things is totally different than other people’s realities. That just because I don’t ever forget a face doesn’t mean others don’t either.
And yes! What matters is the good. Because there is a lot of really, really good good. I’ll just put my own filter on and try to ignore the rest.
Isn’t it funny that after a decade of meeting people online and then meeting them offline, we still do this? It’s one of the pitfalls of online acquaintanceship, but I think it’s also symptomatic of one of the greatest reasons for making friends online – we allow each other time and space to show who we really are. Snap judgments are still made, but they are often softened or changed completely over time.
Hi Aimee! I’m so glad we can be blog conference friends! I love hanging out with you.
I completely relate…it’s a weird thing, eh? 🙂
I just loved that we got to see each other more than once. Despite there being 700 women, it seems so much more intimate.
I’m so glad we jolted, babe!